SPLK-1001 Basic Searching and Transforming Commands Practice Question
Which TWO commands can be used to create a chart that shows the count of events over time?
⚠ Common exam trap
Splunk often tests the distinction between `chart` and `timechart`, where candidates mistakenly think `chart` alone cannot produce a time-based chart, but `chart` can when explicitly using `_time` as the x-axis, though `timechart` is the more appropriate and automatic choice for time-based counts.
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
✓
timechart
The `timechart` command is specifically designed to create a time-based chart where the x-axis represents time and the y-axis represents a statistical aggregation, such as count. By default, `timechart count` splits events into time buckets and counts the number of events in each bucket, making it ideal for showing event counts over time. The `chart` command can also produce a time-based chart when used with the `_time` field as the x-axis, but it requires explicit specification of the time field and does not automatically bucket by time like `timechart` does.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
top
Why it's wrong here
top returns a table of top values, not a time-based chart.
- ✗
eval
Why it's wrong here
eval creates fields but does not produce charts.
- ✓
timechart
Why this is correct
timechart is specifically designed for time-series charting.
- ✗
stats
Why it's wrong here
stats returns tabular results, may need conversion to chart.
- ✓
chart
Why this is correct
chart can produce time-based charts when used with a time field.
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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.