Basic Concepts

In order to maximize the speed of filtering huge log files, Web Log Filter uses a very specific rule format that can be representing super efficiently, and which does very little processing that is not strictly required.

Because of this, the scripts are somewhat low-level and can be a bit confusing to the uninitiated.

In essence, a Web Log Filter script is a sequence of rules that are applied in turn.  When a rule matches, one of several actions can be applied, including discarding the log file line, or writing it out to a file, or performing a repalcement.

After an operation the script can specify whether parsing should continue or stop.  It's important to pay attention to this and stop parsing when you know the line is not desired in output.  Similarly, after a line is written, you probably want to stop filtering the line - otherwise you could end up writing the same line multiple times (to the same or different output files).

A rule wizard has been added to make it a little easier for you to write new rules - but please anticipate some struggles as you get the hang of the low-level scripting language.

When in doubt - use some of the preset rules or the New Rules Wizard.