How to correctly delete fields that contain non-literary characters?

[bmday]

Hi!
We use Vector with Remap transform for Kubernetes logs and we need to delete some fields from processing data, e.g.:

    transforms:
      kubernetes_logs_transformer:
        type: remap
        inputs:
          - kubernetes_logs
        source: |-
            del(.kubernetes.labels.pod-template-hash) - no work
            del(.kubernetes.node_labels.beta.kubernetes.io/arch)  - no work
            del(.kubernetes.node_labels.kubernetes.io/arch)  - no work
            del(.kubernetes.container_name) - It work

It was expected that these operations would remove fields from the output, but it did not work. This gives a syntax error, which is logical if you pay attention to the documentation for Path: https://vector.dev/docs/reference/vrl/expressions/#path

path_segments denote a segment of a nested path. Each segment must be delimited by a . character and only contain alpha-numeric characters and _ (a-zA-Z0-9_). Segments that contain characters outside of this range must be quoted.

Аfter adding the quotes, the sitaxis errors disappeared, but had no effect. The fields are not deleted as expected.

    transforms:
      kubernetes_logs_transformer:
        type: remap
        inputs:
          - kubernetes_logs
        source: |-
            del(.kubernetes.labels."pod-template-hash") - It work
            del(.kubernetes.node_labels.beta.kubernetes."io/arch") - No effect
            del(.kubernetes.node_labels.kubernetes."io/arch") - No effect
            del(.kubernetes.container_name) - It work

How to correctly delete fields that contain non-literary characters?

[jszwedko]

Try del(.kubernetes.node_labels."kubernetes.io/arch"). The need to quote path segments with special characters is mentioned here: https://vector.dev/docs/reference/vrl/expressions/#path

[bmday]

Thanks!
I try

del(.kubernetes.node_labels.beta.kubernetes."io/arch")
del(."kubernetes.node_labels.beta.kubernetes.io/os")

but it didn't work either. The fields continue to be sent to the output.

[bmday]

UPD.

Experimentally, it was possible to establish that the following configuration works:

            del(.kubernetes.namespace_labels."kubernetes.io/metadata.name")
            del(.kubernetes.node_labels."beta.kubernetes.io/arch")
            del(.kubernetes.node_labels."beta.kubernetes.io/os")

This is certainly a good result, but it was not easy to understand in advance that this is how it works, and not otherwise.

Thank you, @jszwedko

[jszwedko]

👍 all keys under node_labels are "flat" and so should be quoted.