This page explains how to use the isimei function in APL.
Use the
Run in Playground
Output
isimei function to check whether a given string is a valid International Mobile Equipment Identity (IMEI) number. IMEIs are unique identifiers assigned to mobile devices, often used in mobile network logs, telecom datasets, and security investigations to distinguish devices.
You can use this function to:
- Validate whether a string field contains a proper IMEI format.
- Filter out malformed or suspicious entries in datasets containing device identifiers.
- Improve data quality when analyzing logs with user agent or device metadata.
isimei is especially useful when dealing with telemetry or audit data where IMEI values are passed through APIs, headers, or form fields, and you want to ensure they conform to a valid format.
For users of other query languages
If you come from other query languages, this section explains how to adjust your existing queries to achieve the same results in APL.Splunk SPL users
Splunk SPL users
Splunk SPL doesn’t include a built-in function for validating IMEI numbers. To replicate this logic, you typically use regular expressions and custom validation logic in
eval or where clauses.In APL, you can use isimei directly to check if a string is a valid IMEI number, simplifying your query.ANSI SQL users
ANSI SQL users
ANSI SQL doesn’t include native IMEI validation functions. You typically rely on pattern matching with
LIKE or regular expressions, if supported.APL provides a dedicated isimei function to simplify this task.Usage
Syntax
Parameters
| Name | Type | Description |
|---|---|---|
| value | string | The value to test for valid IMEI formatting. |
Returns
Abool value:
trueif the input string is a valid IMEI number.falseotherwise.
Example
Query| _time | has_imei |
|---|---|
| 2025-07-10T08:21:00Z | true |