In which case will Splunk look for the file's modification time?

In Splunk, the behavior regarding file input and timestamps is structured to ensure that the system can accurately process and index data. When no date or timestamp is initially found, Splunk will look at the file's modification time to determine when the data was last modified. This serves as a fallback mechanism to ensure that the events are timestamped correctly, even when embedded timestamps are unavailable or not detected.

When Splunk encounters a file, it first attempts to extract a timestamp from the contents of the log. If it fails to find an explicit timestamp or date within the data, the system will then reference the file's modification time as an alternative. This ensures that data is indexed in a temporal context that reflects its state at a specific point in time, rather than defaulting to the ingestion time, which could lead to discrepancies in data analysis and reporting.

This approach is crucial for maintaining the integrity of time-series data, enabling users to perform accurate time-based searches and analytics within Splunk.