windows_exporter/docs/collector.textfile.md

# textfile collector

The textfile collector exposes metrics from files written by other processes.

|||
-|-
Metric name prefix  | `textfile`
Classes             | None
Enabled by default? | Yes

## Flags

### `--collector.textfile.directory` 
:warning: DEPRECATED Use `--collector.textfile.directories`

<br>

### `--collector.textfile.directories`
One or multiple directories containing the files to be ingested. 

E.G. `--collector.textfile.directories="C:\MyDir1,C:\MyDir2"`

Default value: `C:\Program Files\windows_exporter\textfile_inputs`

Required: No

> **Note:**
> - If there are duplicated filenames among the directories, only the first one found will be read. For any other files with the same name, the `windows_textfile_scrape_error` metric will be set to 1 and a error message will be logged.
> - Only files with the extension `.prom` are read. The `.prom` file must end with an empty line feed to work properly.



Metrics will primarily come from the files on disk. The below listed metrics
are collected to give information about the reading of the metrics themselves.

Name | Description | Type | Labels
-----|-------------|------|-------
`windows_textfile_scrape_error` | 1 if there was an error opening or reading a file, 0 otherwise | gauge | None
`windows_textfile_mtime_seconds` | Unix epoch-formatted mtime (modified time) of textfiles successfully read | gauge | file

### Example metric
_This collector does not yet have explained examples, we would appreciate your help adding them!_

## Useful queries
_This collector does not yet have any useful queries added, we would appreciate your help adding them!_

## Alerting examples
_This collector does not yet have alerting examples, we would appreciate your help adding them!_

# Example use
This Powershell script, when run in the `--collector.textfile.directories` (default `C:\Program Files\windows_exporter\textfile_inputs`), generates a valid `.prom` file that should successfully ingested by windows_exporter.

```Powershell
$alpha = 42
$beta = @{ left=3.1415; right=2.718281828; }

Set-Content -Path test1.prom -Encoding Ascii -NoNewline -Value ""
Add-Content -Path test1.prom -Encoding Ascii -NoNewline -Value "# HELP test_alpha_total Some random metric.`n"
Add-Content -Path test1.prom -Encoding Ascii -NoNewline -Value "# TYPE test_alpha_total counter`n"
Add-Content -Path test1.prom -Encoding Ascii -NoNewline -Value "test_alpha_total ${alpha}`n"
Add-Content -Path test1.prom -Encoding Ascii -NoNewline -Value "# HELP test_beta_bytes Some other metric.`n"
Add-Content -Path test1.prom -Encoding Ascii -NoNewline -Value "# TYPE test_beta_bytes gauge`n"
foreach ($k in $beta.Keys) {
  Add-Content -Path test1.prom -Encoding Ascii -NoNewline -Value "test_beta_bytes{spin=""${k}""} $( $beta[$k] )`n"
}
```