# Logstash Configuration Error
**URL:** https://discuss.elastic.co/t/logstash-configuration-error/247211
**Category:** Logstash
**Created:** [September 2, 2020, 10:43am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/logstash-configuration-error/247211 "2020-09-02T10:43:42Z")
**Posts on this page:** 4
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Chandana\_Koppal](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/Chandana_Koppal)
#### Post date: [September 2, 2020, 10:43am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/logstash-configuration-error/247211/1 "2020-09-02T10:43:42Z")
[2020-09-02T16:11:38,526][ERROR][logstash.agent] Failed to execute action {:action=\>LogStash::PipelineAction::Create/pipeline\_id:main, :exception=\>"LogStash::ConfigurationError", :message=\>"Expected one of [\t\r\n], "#", "input", "filter", "output" at line 1, column 1 (byte 1)", :backtrace=\>["C:/ELK/logstash-7.9.0/logstash-7.9.0/logstash-core/lib/logstash/compiler.rb:32:in `compile_imperative'", "org/logstash/execution/AbstractPipelineExt.java:183:in `initialize'", "org/logstash/execution/JavaBasePipelineExt.java:69:in `initialize'", "C:/ELK/logstash-7.9.0/logstash-7.9.0/logstash-core/lib/logstash/java_pipeline.rb:44:in `initialize'", "C:/ELK/logstash-7.9.0/logstash-7.9.0/logstash-core/lib/logstash/pipeline\_action/create.rb:52:in `execute'", "C:/ELK/logstash-7.9.0/logstash-7.9.0/logstash-core/lib/logstash/agent.rb:357:in `block in converge\_state'"]}
[2020-09-02T16:11:38,708][INFO][logstash.agent] Successfully started Logstash API endpoint {:port=\>9600}
[2020-09-02T16:11:43,782][INFO][logstash.runner] Logstash shut down.
[2020-09-02T16:11:43,804][ERROR][org.logstash.Logstash] java.lang.IllegalStateException: Logstash stopped processing because of an error: (SystemExit) exit
input {
file {
path =\> "C:\ELK\Logs"
start\_position =\> "begining"
sincedb\_path =\> "NULL"
}
}
filter {
grok {
match =\> { "message" =\> "^%{MONTHDAY:month}/%{MONTHDAY:day}/%{YEAR:year} %{TIME:time} %{GREEDYDATA:logmessage}"}
}
}
output {
elasticsearch { hosts =\> ["localhost:9200"] }
stdout { codec =\> rubydebug }
}
This is my conf file and it is encoded in UTF-8
---
### Author:  [@Badger](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/Badger)
#### Post date: [September 2, 2020, 4:44pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/logstash-configuration-error/247211/2 "2020-09-02T16:44:29Z")
> [@Chandana\_Koppal](#):
>
> file {
> path =\> "C:\ELK\Logs"
> start\_position =\> "begining"
> sincedb\_path =\> "NULL"
> }
Do not use backslash in the path option of a file input, it is interpreted as an escape. Use forward slash.
If you do not want the in-memory sincedb persisted across restarts then use "NUL" for the sincedb\_path, not "NULL".
Does your configuration file have a BOM in it?
---
### Author:  [@Chandana\_Koppal](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/Chandana_Koppal)
#### Post date: [September 3, 2020, 6:28am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/logstash-configuration-error/247211/3 "2020-09-03T06:28:32Z")
Got it. It was indented incorrectly. And no, it is not in BOM.
---
### Author:  [@system](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/system)
#### Post date: [October 1, 2020, 6:28am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/logstash-configuration-error/247211/4 "2020-10-01T06:28:38Z")
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