Ok - another angle.  I feel I am SO close. so I have a cleint with message logs with filename format /var/log/messages-YYYYMMDD.log It contains a trigger word DIDDS client-local.cfg on the xymon SERVER contains

[linux]log:/var/log/messages:10240log:find /var/log -maxdepth 1 -type f -name messages-\*.log:10240log:/var/log/maillog:10240 log:/var/log/secure:10240ignore MARK

The client's msgs GUI page shows

No entries in /var/log/messagesNo entries in /var/log/messages-20180816.log No entries in /var/log/maillog No entries in /var/log/secure

Full log /var/log/messagesFull log /var/log/messages-20180816.log Full log /var/log/maillog Full log /var/log/secure

ie it can find/knows about that respective messages file.

However...

in analysis.cfg, for the respective client this line LOG %/var/log/messages*.log "DIDDS"  COLOR=yellow

doesn't flag anything - even if the string DIDDS is in that messages-20180816.log file .. hence the line in the GUI No entries in /var/log/messages-20180816.log

SO CLOSE.

what am I missing here?

Because if I merely use LOG %/var/log/messages "DIDDS"  COLOR=yellow with DIDDS within /var/log/messages  it goes yellow almost immediately. ??? didds