# Improve readability of Exclude\_lines:

**URL:** <https://discuss.elastic.co/t/improve-readability-of-exclude-lines/93819>\
**Category:** Beats\
**Tags:** filebeat\
**Created:** [July 19, 2017, 5:35pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/improve-readability-of-exclude-lines/93819 "2017-07-19T17:35:45Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![StivOstenberg](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/stivostenberg/32/4681_2.png) [@StivOstenberg](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/StivOstenberg)\
**Post date:** [July 19, 2017, 5:35pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/improve-readability-of-exclude-lines/93819/1 "2017-07-19T17:35:45Z")

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Ok, Iffen I want to exclude me some lines, I do it thusly:  
exclude\_lines: ["exclude me","and me","and me too"]  
This works, but I have some long strings In need to exclude, and it makes it tough to read.

When setting paths, you do it like this:  
paths:

- "some path"
- "another path".

Can I use the same "-" list to define exclude lines eg:

exclude\_lines:

- "exclude me"
- "and me"
- "and me too"

I tried, and didnt seem to work.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![andrewkroh](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/andrewkroh/32/3784_2.png) [@andrewkroh](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/andrewkroh)\
**Post date:** [July 19, 2017, 7:07pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/improve-readability-of-exclude-lines/93819/2 "2017-07-19T19:07:58Z")

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The config file is standard YAML so you can write the sequence either way (block or flow style). [http://yaml.org/type/seq.html](http://yaml.org/type/seq.html)

You can check that your file is valid YAML with [www.yamllint.com](http://www.yamllint.com).

```auto
filebeat.prospectors: 
  - 
    exclude_lines: 
      - DEBUG
      - TRACE
    paths: 
      - /var/log/messages

```

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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:** [August 16, 2017, 7:08pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/improve-readability-of-exclude-lines/93819/3 "2017-08-16T19:08:06Z")

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