SPLK-1001 Practice Question: Creating Reports, Dashboards and Visualizations
Exhibit
index=main sourcetype=access_combined status=503 | timechart count by host
Refer to the exhibit. A user runs this search and the resulting timechart shows multiple lines, one for each host. The user wants to show only the top 3 hosts by total count. Which modification achieves this?
⚠ Common exam trap
Splunk often tests the order of piped commands in Splunk, and the trap here is that candidates mistakenly think `top` or `head` can be applied after `timechart` to limit the number of lines, not realizing that `timechart` already creates a separate series for each distinct value of the split-by field, and post-commands like `head` only limit rows (time buckets), not series.
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
✓
Add | top 3 host before timechart
The `top 3 host` command, when placed before `timechart`, calculates the top 3 hosts by total count across the entire search timeframe, then passes only those three hosts to the `timechart` command. This ensures the timechart displays exactly three lines, one for each of the top hosts, based on their overall event count.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✓
Add | top 3 host before timechart
Why this is correct
This reduces data to top 3 hosts first.
- ✗
Add | top 3 host after timechart
Why it's wrong here
Timechart already created all series.
- ✗
Add | where host in (select top 3) after timechart
Why it's wrong here
Complex and not straightforward.
- ✗
Add | head 3 after timechart
Why it's wrong here
Head takes first 3 rows, not top hosts.
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JA
Written by Johnson Ajibi, MSc IT Security
Senior Network & Security Engineer · founder of Courseiva
This SPLK-1001 practice question is part of Courseiva's free Splunk certification practice question bank. Courseiva provides original exam-style practice questions with explanations, topic-based practice, mock exams, readiness tracking, and study analytics to help learners prepare for the SPLK-1001 exam.