Timestamp

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This functionality is in beta and is subject to change. The design and code is less mature than official GA features and is being provided as-is with no warranties. Beta features are not subject to the support SLA of official GA features.

The timestamp processor parses a timestamp from a field. By default the timestamp processor writes the parsed result to the @timestamp field. You can specify a different field by setting the target_field parameter. The timestamp value is parsed according to the layouts parameter. Multiple layouts can be specified and they will be used sequentially to attempt parsing the timestamp field.

The timestamp layouts used by this processor are different than the formats supported by date processors in Logstash and Elasticsearch Ingest Node.

The layouts are described using a reference time that is based on this specific time:

Mon Jan 2 15:04:05 MST 2006

Since MST is GMT-0700, the reference time is:

01/02 03:04:05PM '06 -0700

To define your own layout, rewrite the reference time in a format that matches the timestamps you expect to parse. For more layout examples and details see the Go time package documentation.

If a layout does not contain a year then the current year in the specified timezone is added to the time value.

Table 3. Timestamp options

Name Required Default Description

field

yes

Source field containing the time to be parsed.

target_field

no

@timestamp

Target field for the parsed time value. The target value is always written as UTC.

layouts

yes

Timestamp layouts that define the expected time value format. In addition layouts, UNIX and UNIX_MS are accepted.

timezone

no

UTC

Timezone (e.g. America/New_York) to use when parsing a timestamp not containing a timezone.

ignore_missing

no

false

Ignore errors when the source field is missing.

ignore_failure

no

false

Ignore all errors produced by the processor.

test

no

A list of timestamps that must parse successfully when loading the processor.

id

no

An identifier for this processor instance. Useful for debugging.

Here is an example that parses the start_time field and writes the result to the @timestamp field then deletes the start_time field. When the processor is loaded it will immediately validate that the two test timestamps parse with this configuration.

processors:
- timestamp:
    field: start_time
    layouts:
      - '2006-01-02T15:04:05Z'
      - '2006-01-02T15:04:05.999Z'
    test:
      - '2019-06-22T16:33:51Z'
      - '2019-11-18T04:59:51.123Z'
- drop_fields:
    fields: [start_time]