In StackDriver logging viewer is there a way to query for entries that DO NOT contain a specific string

Question

My question is wrt to the log viewer at https://console.cloud.google.com/logs/viewer All the examples here show how to search for existence of text but not for absence.

I want to use this functionality to search for errors that do not contain "Request was aborted after waiting too long to attempt to service your request."

Answer 1

You can use Advanced Logs Filters which support the NOT boolean operator:

Boolean expressions

expression =
    ["NOT" | "-"] comparison {["AND" | "OR"] ["NOT" | "-"] comparison}

From Introduction:

To use advanced filters in the Logs Viewer, select the drop-down menu at the end of the search bar, and choose Convert to advanced filter. You see the advanced filter interface pictured below:

In your case add the following line to the ones filled in by default when switching to the advanced filter:

NOT "Request was aborted after waiting too long to attempt to service your request."