Objective 7.2

Core Certified Power User

Create and use a basic macro

Objective 7.2 sits in Creating and Using Macros, which carries 10% of the Core Certified Power User exam. The questions below are original, written from the official objective title above, and each explanation cites the Splunk page it rests on.

Objective title verbatim from the official objectives. Splunk exam page

A worked example

Shown solved, with the whole explanation open: this is what every question here carries.

7-2Creating and Using Macros

A user is inserting a macro into a search string. Which character does Splunk say goes before and after the name?

A back tickCorrect · your answerCorrect.
A dollar signA dollar sign marks a token in a dashboard rather than a macro reference.
A percent signA percent sign has no role in referencing a macro.
A double quoteQuotation marks are what stop a macro being expanded.

Correct.

Checked against help.splunk.com, August 2026

Concept

A reference has to be visibly different from the search text around it, or the parser cannot tell a name from a term. One uncommon character on each side does that job.

Why A

Splunk states that when you put a search macro in a search string you place a back tick character before and after the macro name, and notes it sits on the same key as the tilde on most English language keyboards.

Source

When you put a search macro in a search string, place a back tick character ( ` ) before and after the macro name. On most English-language keyboards, this character is located on the same key as the tilde (~).

Splunk Docs: Use search macros in searches, checked August 2026
#macros#syntax

Now you: objective 7.2 questions

No account needed. The explanation opens when you answer.

Sample question 1 of 3

7-2Creating and Using Macros

An analyst puts a macro reference inside a quoted value and it does not run. What does Splunk say about that?

Sample question 2 of 3

7-2Creating and Using Macros

A team names a macro with a hyphen and it fails in the Search app. What does Splunk say about hyphens?

Sample question 3 of 3

7-2Creating and Using Macros

An administrator wants a new macro usable only inside one app. Which field on the macro form does Splunk name?

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Read the sources

These are the official pages the questions above cite. Reading them is studying the objective from the primary source, which is what the explanations point you toward anyway.

More objectives in Creating and Using Macros