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top-hitters

The top-hitters operator counts distinct value combinations and returns the most frequent combinations in descending order. It provides valuable insights into the most popular and impactful data combinations within your input Dataset.

This operator is conceptually equivalent to using the summarize operator with count and top:

    Scope | summarize C=count() by ValueExpression | top NumberOfValues by C desc

Syntax
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    Scope | top-hitters NumberOfValues of ValueExpression [ by SummingExpression ]

Arguments
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  • Scope: The events to search.
  • NumberOfValues: The number of distinct values of ValueExpression.
  • ValueExpression: An expression or list of fields that operate over the Scope whose distinct values are returned. Supports single expressions like x / 42 or abs(status) as well as more complex expressions such as top-hitters 10 of method, status [by SummingExpression].
  • SummingExpression: If specified, a numeric expression over the Scope whose sum per distinct value of ValueExpression establishes which values to emit. If not specified, the count of each distinct value of ValueExpression is used instead.

Examples
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  • Return the top 3 distinct status values.

    dataset="cribl_search_sample" status="*"
| limit 1000
| top-hitters 3 of status
    Run in Cribl Search

  • Sum bytes and returns the top 2 host values.

    dataset="cribl_search_sample" status="*" host="*"
| limit 1000
| top-hitters 3 of host by bytes
    Run in Cribl Search

  • Sum bytes, and return the top 10 distinct combinations of clientip and useragent values based on the bytes field.

    dataset="cribl_search_sample" clientip="*" useragent="*"
| limit 1000
| top-hitters 5 of clientip, useragent by bytes
    Run in Cribl Search