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Why does "mvexpand X" remove events with X=NULL?

macoo
Explorer

Why does mvexpand X remove events with X=NULL? As simple as that. It's illogical from my perspective, unless it's on purpose.

thank you!

Tags (1)

woodcock
Esteemed Legend

Either way of behaving makes some sense but, IMHO the way that it actually work makes more sense than the other.
Either way it could have worked, could easily be converted to the other.
In this case, just do this:

... | eval X = coalesce(X, "ImpossibleValueToDropLater")
| mvexpand X
| eval X = if(X="ImpossibleValueToDropLater", null(), X)

nick405060
Motivator

You're the best! Thanks. I decided to write less code but convert null values to strings, as posted in https://answers.splunk.com/answers/548304/mvexpand-gives-less-results.html:

eval username=coalesce(username,"") | mvexpand username
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woodcock
Esteemed Legend

If this worked for you, click "Accept" to close the question.

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