# Grok pattern extract data based on column position

**URL:** https://discuss.elastic.co/t/grok-pattern-extract-data-based-on-column-position/176126
**Category:** Logstash
**Created:** [April 10, 2019, 2:23am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/grok-pattern-extract-data-based-on-column-position/176126 "2019-04-10T02:23:05Z")
**Posts on this page:** 1
**Showing post:** 2

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### Author: ![inhinyera16](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/inhinyera16/32/61625_2.png) [@inhinyera16](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/inhinyera16)
#### Post date: [April 10, 2019, 10:25am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/grok-pattern-extract-data-based-on-column-position/176126/2 "2019-04-10T10:25:20Z")

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Hi maybe you can follow this solution.

> [@Logstash substring a field using position](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/logstash-substring-a-field-using-position/32569):
>
> hi guys, if i want to extract first 3 characters from a field, how do i go about it. Thanks, sam

You can create a separate ruby code block and put the zero based integer.

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