# Create tab delimited string for output

**URL:** <https://discuss.elastic.co/t/create-tab-delimited-string-for-output/291840>\
**Category:** Logstash\
**Created:** [December 14, 2021, 4:42pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/create-tab-delimited-string-for-output/291840 "2021-12-14T16:42:27Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![trwillis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/9fc348/32.png) [@trwillis](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/trwillis)\
**Post date:** [December 14, 2021, 4:42pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/create-tab-delimited-string-for-output/291840/1 "2021-12-14T16:42:27Z")

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I need to construct a string with tab as delimiters for downstream consumption. I don't want to create a csv file because I am sending it over the network somewhere else.  
example input:  
field1: timestamp  
field2: hostname  
field3: foo  
field4: bar

output:  
timestamp[tab]hostname[tab]foo[tab]bar

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Badger](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/badger/32/25190_2.png) [@Badger](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/Badger)\
**Post date:** [December 14, 2021, 5:40pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/create-tab-delimited-string-for-output/291840/2 "2021-12-14T17:40:52Z")

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You could do that with a codec that supports the [format](https://www.elastic.co/guide/en/logstash/current/plugins-codecs-plain.html#plugins-codecs-plain-format) option.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![system](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/original/3X/1/a/1ac57faf039f6b580b3f104ef42a2a89e41014de.png) [@system](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/system)\
**Post date:** [January 11, 2022, 5:41pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/create-tab-delimited-string-for-output/291840/3 "2022-01-11T17:41:13Z")

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