# Multiline.pattern: '^\\\[\[0-9\]{4}-\[0-9\]{2}-\[0-9\]{2}' not working

**URL:** <https://discuss.elastic.co/t/multiline-pattern-0-9-4-0-9-2-0-9-2-not-working/91156>\
**Category:** Beats\
**Tags:** filebeat\
**Created:** [June 28, 2017, 5:10pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/multiline-pattern-0-9-4-0-9-2-0-9-2-not-working/91156 "2017-06-28T17:10:00Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 13\
**Page:** 1

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Nikhilpawar1985](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/e68b1a/32.png) [@Nikhilpawar1985](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/Nikhilpawar1985)\
**Post date:** [June 28, 2017, 5:10pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/multiline-pattern-0-9-4-0-9-2-0-9-2-not-working/91156/1 "2017-06-28T17:10:00Z")

</div>

multiline.pattern: `'^\[[0-9]{4}-[0-9]{2}-[0-9]{2}'` not working for filebeat . my log lines are starting with

```
[2017-05-22 00:00:00,007] :|: INFO :|: lvprdsndlbfe1.lv.jabodo.com :|: :|: :|: :|: :|: c.m.w.d.s.InMemoryDataRefreshService :|: - Starting firefoxReleaseCandidate refresh

[2017-05-22 00:00:00,002] :|: INFO :|: lvprdsndlbfe1.lv.jabodo.com :|: :|: :|: :|: :|: c.m.w.d.s.InMemoryDataRefreshService :|: - Starting adobeDmp refresh

[2017-05-22 00:00:00,026] :|: INFO :|: lvprdsndlbfe1.lv.jabodo.com :|: :|: :|: :|: :|: c.m.s.r.f.ThreadUnsafeFirefoxReleaseCandidateCache :|: - Start: Refreshing com.mindspark.service.release.firefox.ThreadUnsafeFirefoxReleaseCandidateCache

[2017-05-22 00:00:00,027] :|: INFO :|: lvprdsndlbfe1.lv.jabodo.com :|: :|: :|: :|: :|: c.m.s.r.f.FirefoxReleaseMgrDaoImpl :|: - Initializing from db...

```

but its not working .

```
root@lvprdsndlbfe1:/etc/filebeat# service filebeat start
filebeat2017/06/28 17:01:54.813861 beat.go:339: CRIT Exiting: error loading config file: yaml: line 56: did not find expected key
Exiting: error loading config file: yaml: line 56: did not find expected key
   ...fail!
```

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Nikhilpawar1985](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/e68b1a/32.png) [@Nikhilpawar1985](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/Nikhilpawar1985)\
**Post date:** [June 28, 2017, 6:28pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/multiline-pattern-0-9-4-0-9-2-0-9-2-not-working/91156/2 "2017-06-28T18:28:55Z")

</div>

I tried different combinations but it not working ..any help  
multiline.pattern: `^\[\d{4}-\d{1,2}-\d{1,2}`  
# multiline.pattern: `^\[[0-9]{4}-[0-9]{2}-[0-9]{2}`  
# multiline.pattern: '^[\d{4}-\d{2}-\d{2}'

---

<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:** [June 28, 2017, 7:58pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/multiline-pattern-0-9-4-0-9-2-0-9-2-not-working/91156/3 "2017-06-28T19:58:15Z")

</div>

> [@Nikhilpawar1985](#):
>
> filebeat2017/06/28 17:01:54.813861 beat.go:339: CRIT Exiting: error loading config file: yaml: line 56: did not find expected key  
> Exiting: error loading config file: yaml: line 56: did not find expected key

Please post your full config because it appears this is config related rather than a problem with the pattern.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Nikhilpawar1985](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/e68b1a/32.png) [@Nikhilpawar1985](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/Nikhilpawar1985)\
**Post date:** [June 28, 2017, 8:03pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/multiline-pattern-0-9-4-0-9-2-0-9-2-not-working/91156/4 "2017-06-28T20:03:58Z")

</div>

Here the full filebeat config

```
root@lvprdsndlbfe1:/etc/filebeat# more filebeat.yml
###################### Filebeat Configuration Example #########################

# This file is an example configuration file highlighting only the most common
# options. The filebeat.full.yml file from the same directory contains all the
# supported options with more comments. You can use it as a reference.
#
# You can find the full configuration reference here:
# https://www.elastic.co/guide/en/beats/filebeat/index.html

#=========================== Filebeat prospectors =============================

filebeat.prospectors:

# Each - is a prospector. Most options can be set at the prospector level, so
# you can use different prospectors for various configurations.
# Below are the prospector specific configurations.

- input_type: log

  # Paths that should be crawled and fetched. Glob based paths.
  paths:
# - /var/log/*.log
    - /archives/logs/tomcat7-8080/download.log
    - /archives/logs/tomcat7-8090/download.log
# - /etc/filebeat/test/download.2017-06-16-1125-1925.log
# - /etc/filebeat/test/download.2017-06-16-1125-1224.log
# - /etc/filebeat/test/download.2017-06-16-1125-1524.log
#filebeat.spool_size: 4096
tail_files: true
# - /etc/filebeat/test/test_apache.log
   #- c:\programdata\elasticsearch\logs\*

  # Exclude lines. A list of regular expressions to match. It drops the lines that
are
  # matching any regular expression from the list.
  #exclude_lines: ["^DBG"]

  # Include lines. A list of regular expressions to match. It exports the lines tha
t are
  # matching any regular expression from the list.
  #include_lines: ["^ERR", "^WARN"]

  # Exclude files. A list of regular expressions to match. Filebeat drops the files
 that
  # are matching any regular expression from the list. By default, no files are dro
pped.
  #exclude_files: [".gz$"]

  # Optional additional fields. These field can be freely picked
  # to add additional information to the crawled log files for filtering
  #fields:
  # level: debug
  # review: 1

  ### Multiline options
# multiline.pattern: '^[\d{4}-\d{1,2}-\d{1,2}'
  multiline.pattern: '^\[[0-9]{4}-[0-9]{2}-[0-9]{2}'
# multiline.pattern: '^\[\d{4}-\d{2}-\d{2}'
# multiline.pattern: `^[[0-9]{4}-[0-9]{2}-[0-9]{2}`
  # Defines if the pattern set under pattern should be negated or not. Default is f
alse.
  multiline.negate: true

  # Match can be set to "after" or "before". It is used to define if lines should b
e append to a pattern
  # that was (not) matched before or after or as long as a pattern is not matched b
ased on negate.
  # Note: After is the equivalent to previous and before is the equivalent to to ne
xt in Logstash
  multiline.match: after

#================================ General =====================================

# The name of the shipper that publishes the network data. It can be used to group
# all the transactions sent by a single shipper in the web interface.
#name:

# The tags of the shipper are included in their own field with each
# transaction published.
#tags: ["service-X", "web-tier"]

# Optional fields that you can specify to add additional information to the
# output.
#fields:
# env: staging

#================================ Outputs =====================================

# Configure what outputs to use when sending the data collected by the beat.
# Multiple outputs may be used.

#-------------------------- Elasticsearch output ------------------------------
#output.elasticsearch:
  # Array of hosts to connect to.
 # hosts: ["localhost:9200"]

  # Optional protocol and basic auth credentials.
  #protocol: "https"
  #username: "elastic"
  #password: "changeme"

#----------------------------- Logstash output --------------------------------
output.logstash:
  # The Logstash hosts
# hosts: ["lvsyslogstash1.lv.jabodo.com:5044"]
  hosts: ["lvsyslogstash1.lv.jabodo.com:5044","lvsyslogstash2.lv.jabodo.com:5044","
lvsyslogstash3.lv.jabodo.com:5044","lvsyslogstash4.lv.jabodo.com:5044"]
  loadbalance: true
  worker: 2
  filebeat.publish_async: true
# bulk_max_size: 2048
 # Optional SSL. By default is off.
  # List of root certificates for HTTPS server verifications
  #ssl.certificate_authorities: ["/etc/pki/root/ca.pem"]

  # Certificate for SSL client authentication
  #ssl.certificate: "/etc/pki/client/cert.pem"

  # Client Certificate Key
  #ssl.key: "/etc/pki/client/cert.key"

#================================ Logging =====================================

# Sets log level. The default log level is info.
# Available log levels are: critical, error, warning, info, debug
#logging.level: debug

# At debug level, you can selectively enable logging only for some components.
# To enable all selectors use ["*"]. Examples of other selectors are "beat",
# "publish", "service".
#logging.selectors: ["*"]
```

---

<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:** [June 28, 2017, 8:19pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/multiline-pattern-0-9-4-0-9-2-0-9-2-not-working/91156/5 "2017-06-28T20:19:20Z")

</div>

There's a problem with that because it doesn't even pass a YAML lint test ([http://www.yamllint.com/](http://www.yamllint.com/)).

It looks like the `tail_files: true` needs to be indented by two spaces. I recommend removing most of the comments from your config file so that it's easier to visually inspect the indentation. For example:

```auto
--- 
filebeat.prospectors: 
  - 
    input_type: log
    multiline.match: after
    multiline.negate: true
    multiline.pattern: '^\[[0-9]{4}-[0-9]{2}-[0-9]{2}'
    paths: 
      - /archives/logs/tomcat7-8080/download.log
      - /archives/logs/tomcat7-8090/download.log
    tail_files: true

filebeat.publish_async: true

output.logstash: 
  hosts: 
    - "lvsyslogstash1.lv.jabodo.com:5044"
    - "lvsyslogstash2.lv.jabodo.com:5044"
    - "lvsyslogstash3.lv.jabodo.com:5044"
    - "lvsyslogstash4.lv.jabodo.com:5044"
  loadbalance: true
  worker: 2

```

I don't recommend using the `publish_async` feature. It is experimental and has been known to cause issues. We are re-writing this feature for 6.0.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Nikhilpawar1985](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/e68b1a/32.png) [@Nikhilpawar1985](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/Nikhilpawar1985)\
**Post date:** [June 28, 2017, 8:31pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/multiline-pattern-0-9-4-0-9-2-0-9-2-not-working/91156/6 "2017-06-28T20:31:12Z")

</div>

Thanks Andre for your help .But it seems its still not working

```
root@lvprdsndlbfe1:/etc/filebeat# service filebeat start
filebeat2017/06/28 20:30:10.191163 beat.go:339: CRIT Exiting: error loading config file: yaml: line 11: mapping values are not allowed in this context
Exiting: error loading config file: yaml: line 11: mapping values are not allowed in this context
   ...fail!
root@lvprdsndlbfe1:/etc/filebeat# more filebeat.yml
#=========================== Filebeat prospectors =============================

filebeat.prospectors:

- input_type: log

  # Paths that should be crawled and fetched. Glob based paths.
  paths:
    - /archives/logs/tomcat7-8080/download.log
    - /archives/logs/tomcat7-8090/download.log
tail_files: true
  multiline.pattern: '^\[[0-9]{4}-[0-9]{2}-[0-9]{2}'
  multiline.negate: true
  multiline.match: after

#================================ Outputs =====================================
#----------------------------- Logstash output --------------------------------
output.logstash:
  # The Logstash hosts
# hosts: ["lvsyslogstash1.lv.jabodo.com:5044"]
  hosts: ["lvsyslogstash1.lv.jabodo.com:5044","lvsyslogstash2.lv.jabodo.com:5044","
lvsyslogstash3.lv.jabodo.com:5044","lvsyslogstash4.lv.jabodo.com:5044"]
  loadbalance: true
  worker: 2
# filebeat.publish_async: true
```

---

<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:** [June 28, 2017, 8:32pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/multiline-pattern-0-9-4-0-9-2-0-9-2-not-working/91156/7 "2017-06-28T20:32:52Z")

</div>

> [@andrewkroh](#):
>
> It looks like the tail\_files: true needs to be indented by two spaces.

You didn't fix that.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Nikhilpawar1985](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/e68b1a/32.png) [@Nikhilpawar1985](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/Nikhilpawar1985)\
**Post date:** [June 28, 2017, 8:36pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/multiline-pattern-0-9-4-0-9-2-0-9-2-not-working/91156/8 "2017-06-28T20:36:22Z")

</div>

Hello Andre ..added another space but still no luck .

It seems that it was working before with single space when i was not using multiline.

```
root@lvprdsndlbfe1:/etc/filebeat# service filebeat start
filebeat2017/06/28 20:35:04.266264 beat.go:339: CRIT Exiting: error loading config file: yaml: line 11: mapping values are not allowed in this context
Exiting: error loading config file: yaml: line 11: mapping values are not allowed in this context
   ...fail!
root@lvprdsndlbfe1:/etc/filebeat# more filebeat.yml
#=========================== Filebeat prospectors =============================

filebeat.prospectors:

- input_type: log

  # Paths that should be crawled and fetched. Glob based paths.
  paths:
    - /archives/logs/tomcat7-8080/download.log
    - /archives/logs/tomcat7-8090/download.log
tail_files: true
  multiline.pattern: '^\[[0-9]{4}-[0-9]{2}-[0-9]{2}'
  multiline.negate: true
  multiline.match: after

#================================ Outputs =====================================
#----------------------------- Logstash output --------------------------------
output.logstash:
  # The Logstash hosts
# hosts: ["lvsyslogstash1.lv.jabodo.com:5044"]
  hosts: ["lvsyslogstash1.lv.jabodo.com:5044","lvsyslogstash2.lv.jabodo.com:5044","
lvsyslogstash3.lv.jabodo.com:5044","lvsyslogstash4.lv.jabodo.com:5044"]
  loadbalance: true
  worker: 2
# filebeat.publish_async: true
```

---

<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:** [June 28, 2017, 8:37pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/multiline-pattern-0-9-4-0-9-2-0-9-2-not-working/91156/9 "2017-06-28T20:37:56Z")

</div>

It still looks the same to me.

> [@Nikhilpawar1985](#):
>
> ```auto
> filebeat.prospectors:
> 
> - input_type: log
> 
> # Paths that should be crawled and fetched. Glob based paths.
> paths:
> - /archives/logs/tomcat7-8080/download.log
> - /archives/logs/tomcat7-8090/download.log
> tail_files: true
> multiline.pattern: '^\[[0-9]{4}-[0-9]{2}-[0-9]{2}'
> multiline.negate: true
> multiline.match: after
> 
> ```

It should look like:

```auto
filebeat.prospectors:

- input_type: log

  # Paths that should be crawled and fetched. Glob based paths.
  paths:
    - /archives/logs/tomcat7-8080/download.log
    - /archives/logs/tomcat7-8090/download.log
  tail_files: true
  multiline.pattern: '^\[[0-9]{4}-[0-9]{2}-[0-9]{2}'
  multiline.negate: true
  multiline.match: after

```

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Nikhilpawar1985](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/e68b1a/32.png) [@Nikhilpawar1985](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/Nikhilpawar1985)\
**Post date:** [June 28, 2017, 8:41pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/multiline-pattern-0-9-4-0-9-2-0-9-2-not-working/91156/10 "2017-06-28T20:41:03Z")

</div>

Thanks you very much andre. Finally it started 😀

Appreciated help about every small detail .

Nikhil

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![neoes1um](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/51bf81/32.png) [@neoes1um](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/neoes1um)\
**Post date:** [June 29, 2017, 2:46am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/multiline-pattern-0-9-4-0-9-2-0-9-2-not-working/91156/11 "2017-06-29T02:46:53Z")

</div>

Thanks you very much andre. Finally it started 😀😀

Appreciated help about every small detail .

Nikhil

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![nana123](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/2bfe46/32.png) [@nana123](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/nana123)\
**Post date:** [June 29, 2017, 5:42am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/multiline-pattern-0-9-4-0-9-2-0-9-2-not-working/91156/12 "2017-06-29T05:42:15Z")

</div>

Ask for advice for this article.

---

<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:** [July 27, 2017, 5:42am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/multiline-pattern-0-9-4-0-9-2-0-9-2-not-working/91156/13 "2017-07-27T05:42:19Z")

</div>

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