Re: svlogd pattern documentation

[Gerrit Pape <pape@smarden.org>]

On Fri, Dec 09, 2005 at 02:48:30PM +0530, Joshua N Pritikin wrote:
>   A character not a star (``*'') and not a plus (``+'') matches itself.
> 
> OK
> 
>   A  plus matches  the  next character in pattern in the log message
>   one or more times.
> 
> Huh?  Isn't the reverse of how it usually works?
> 
> Pattern +abc matches aaabc?  In other tools, the pattern is written
> 'a+bc'.  Clarify please.

You're right.

>   A  star  before  the  end  of  pattern
>   matches  any  string  in  the  log  message  that does not
>   include the next character in pattern.  A star at the  end
>   of pattern matches any string.
> 
> What about a star at the beginning of the pattern?  No effect?

Sure an effect: it matches any string in the log message that does not
include the next character in pattern.

> Some examples would really help.  How do I deselect all lines containing
> "File does not exist" such as:
> 
> 2005-12-09_06:24:23.99609 [Fri Dec 09 06:24:23 2005] [error] [client
> 84.73.105.43] File does not exist: /home/ohl/ohl-v2/htdocs/xmlrpc.php
> 
> Like this?
> 
> -*File does not exist*

No, this doesn't match.  It stops after '[Fr'.

This, for example, does:

-[*] [*] [*] File does not exist: *

Regards, Gerrit.