SPLK-1001 Practice Question: Creating Reports, Dashboards and Visualizations
A Splunk admin notices that a dashboard panel using `timechart` is showing gaps (null values) for some time periods where no events exist. The admin wants to display a zero instead of null to make the chart continuous. Which command should be added before `timechart`?
⚠ Common exam trap
Candidates often confuse `makecontinuous` (which fills missing time buckets with null events) with `fillnull` (which replaces null values with zeros), and may incorrectly think `makecontinuous` alone solves the problem, but it only creates the buckets—not the zero values.
Answer choices
Why each option matters
Answer the question above first, then reveal the full breakdown to understand why each option is right or wrong.
Correct answer & explanation
✓
`fillnull`
`fillnull`, is correct because it explicitly replaces null values with a specified value (default 0) in the results of a transforming command. In Splunk, `fillnull` is used after commands like `timechart` to fill gaps where no events exist. The question asks which command should be added "before `timechart`", but in practice, `fillnull` is placed after `timechart`. However, among the given choices, only `fillnull` can achieve the desired outcome. Option A (`timechart useother=t`) is unrelated to null filling. Option B (`eventstats`) does not replace nulls. Option C (`makecontinuous`) creates time buckets for missing periods but does not fill the null values; it leaves them as null or adds null events. Therefore, `fillnull` is the correct command to use in conjunction with `timechart` to display zeros instead of nulls.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
`timechart useother=t`
Why it's wrong here
`useother` groups less significant series into 'Other', not related to null handling.
- ✗
`eventstats`
Why it's wrong here
`eventstats` computes statistics per event, not for filling nulls.
- ✗
`makecontinuous`
Why it's wrong here
`makecontinuous` fills missing time buckets but does not replace nulls with zero.
- ✓
`fillnull`
Why this is correct
`fillnull` replaces null values with a specified value, typically used after aggregation like `timechart`.
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Written by Johnson Ajibi, MSc IT Security
Senior Network & Security Engineer · founder of Courseiva
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