# Shell-style globbing in the selector

Starting with in AxoSyslog 3.24 and later, you can use shell-style globbing (’*’ and ‘?’ wildcards) in the selector.

To use globs in a selector

  1. Use the `glob()` option within the `selector()` option in your AxoSyslog configuration file, for example:
```
 parser p_add_context_data {
                 add-contextual-data(
                     selector(glob("${HOST}"))
                     database("context-info-db.csv")
                 );
             };
         
```

  2. Use globs and wildcards in the selector column of your CSV-file, for example:
```
 example-glob-entry1*,sourcetype,:hec:user
             example-glob-entry2*,sourcetype,:hec:user
             postfix*,sourcetype,:hec:mta
         
```




Note the following points when using globbing in the selector:

  * The order of the patterns depends on the CSV-file. The order of entries in the database determines the matching order.

  * The globs are matched against the expanded template string sequentially.

  * Put more specific patterns to the top of the CSV-file. The AxoSyslog appication does not evaluate other entries after the first match.

  * In debug mode, AxoSyslog sends log messages to its `internal()` destination to help troubleshooting. For example:
```
 [2019-09-21T06:01:10.748237] add-contextual-data(): Evaluating glob against message; glob-template='$PROGRAM', string='postfix/smtpd', pattern='example-glob-entry1*', matched='0'
            [2019-09-21T06:01:10.748562] add-contextual-data(): Evaluating glob against message; glob-template='$PROGRAM', string='postfix/smtpd', pattern='example-glob-entry2*', matched='0'
            [2019-09-21T06:01:10.748697] add-contextual-data(): Evaluating glob against message; glob-template='$PROGRAM', string='postfix/smtpd', pattern='postfix*', matched='1'
            [2019-09-21T06:01:10.750084] add-contextual-data(): message lookup finished; message='almafa', resolved_selector='postfix*', selector='postfix*', msg='0x8e15320'
        
```




Last modified August 28, 2024: [Formatting fixes (c26e237b)](<https://github.com/axoflow/axosyslog-core-docs/commit/c26e237bf3d7aa0eece69730979d4af442ff8130>)