# Options of geoip parsers

The `geoip` parser has the following options.

## prefix()

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Synopsis: | prefix()  
  
_Description:_ Insert a prefix before the name part of the parsed name-value pairs to help further processing. For example:

  * To insert the `my-parsed-data.` prefix, use the `prefix(my-parsed-data.)` option.
  * To refer to a particular data that has a prefix, use the prefix in the name of the macro, for example, `${my-parsed-data.name}`.
  * If you forward the parsed messages using the IETF-syslog protocol, you can insert all the parsed data into the SDATA part of the message using the `prefix(.SDATA.my-parsed-data.)` option.



Names starting with a dot (for example, `.example`) are reserved for use by AxoSyslog. If you use such a macro name as the name of a parsed value, it will attempt to replace the original value of the macro (note that only soft macros can be overwritten, see [Hard versus soft macros](../../../docs/axosyslog-core/chapter-manipulating-messages/customizing-message-format/macros-hard-vs-soft/index.md) for details). To avoid such problems, use a prefix when naming the parsed values, for example, `prefix(my-parsed-data.)`

For example, to insert the `geoip.` prefix, use the `prefix(.geoip.)` option. To refer to a particular data when using a prefix, use the prefix in the name of the macro, for example, `${geoip.country_code}` .

## database()

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Synopsis: | database()  
Default: | `/usr/share/GeoIP/GeoIP.dat`  
  
_Description:_ The full path to the GeoIP database to use. Note that AxoSyslog must have the required privileges to read this file. Do not modify or delete this file while AxoSyslog is running, it can crash AxoSyslog.

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