# Logstash translate filter
**URL:** https://discuss.elastic.co/t/logstash-translate-filter/119923
**Category:** Logstash
**Created:** [February 15, 2018, 6:51am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/logstash-translate-filter/119923 "2018-02-15T06:51:08Z")
**Posts on this page:** 3
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Harsh\_Jain](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/Harsh_Jain)
#### Post date: [February 15, 2018, 6:51am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/logstash-translate-filter/119923/1 "2018-02-15T06:51:09Z")
I'm new to the Elastic stack and Logstash. I have a new Logstash instance that is accepting logs from beats sending to Elasticsearch. I am trying to apply translate filter based on regex keys. Here the key point to note is that I want replacement based on backreferences, i.e., replacement string must contain substring of searched string.
For e.g.
/abc/xyz/3rfd3ed32dedece has to be translated into /abc/xyz/. Here “/abc/xyz” may vary.
I have used dictonary (json) for applying translation.
Dictionary contains:
{
“^(\/[\w]\*\/[\w]\*\/).\*$”: “$1”
}
I am not able to use backreferences in translate filter. Is it possible to use them. If yes, then how we can use it.
---
### Author:  [@paz](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/paz)
#### Post date: [February 15, 2018, 1:56pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/logstash-translate-filter/119923/2 "2018-02-15T13:56:52Z")
Sounds like you just want to grab a specific part of the value and skip the rest. Is that correct?
If so, I don't think the translate filter is the most suitable for that kind of operation. Some custom Ruby code would be far easier.
---
### Author:  [@system](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/system)
#### Post date: [March 15, 2018, 1:57pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/logstash-translate-filter/119923/3 "2018-03-15T13:57:16Z")
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