The two queries will not produce the same results. The difference lies in how they handle events that do not contain the status field.

1. status != 100: This uses a comparison operator. It filters for events where the status field exists and its value is not equal to 100. Events without a status field are discarded.

2. NOT status = 100: This uses a boolean operator. It returns all events for which the expression status = 100 is false. This includes events where the status field has a different value, as well as all events where the status field does not exist at all.

A. Yes: This is incorrect because the != operator and the NOT operator evaluate events without the specified field differently, leading to different result sets.

1. Splunk Enterprise Documentation

Search Manual

Version 9.2.1

"Use comparison operators": This section explicitly states

"The != and operators return true if the field does not have the specified value. This comparison does not return events that do not have the field." This confirms that status != 100 requires the status field to be present in the event.

2. Splunk Enterprise Documentation

Search Manual

Version 9.2.1

"Boolean expressions": This section describes the NOT operator's function to negate the expression that follows. The search NOT status=100 is interpreted as "return events where the statement 'status equals 100' is not true." This condition is met by events lacking a status field

thus including them in the results.

3. Splunk Education

Splunk Core Certified User course materials

Module 5: Filtering and Formatting Results: This official training module for the SPLK-1001 certification covers the fundamental differences in filtering logic between comparison operators like != and boolean operators like NOT

emphasizing this exact scenario as a key concept for users to understand.