---
title: Accessing fields with special characters
description: Access field names that contain dots, spaces, emojis, or non-ASCII characters by using `$d` with bracket notation.
url: https://coralogix.com/docs/dataprime/cookbook/accessing_special_chars/
product: dataengine
feature: DataPrime Language
feature_id: dataprime-language
feature_identifier: dataengine/dataprime-language
last_updated: '2026-11-02'
---

# Accessing fields with special characters

## Problem / Use case

You want to access fields with special characters such as periods (`.`), dashes (`-`), spaces (` `), or emojis, etc...

## Solution - `$d`

You usually don’t need to use `$d` to access data fields in DataPrime. It’s the default namespace, so fields like `status_code` are automatically interpreted as `$d.status_code`.

But in these cases with special characters using `$d` is required.

### 1. Field names with dots

If your field name includes a dot (`.`), DataPrime treats it as a nested path unless you use bracket notation. This can lead to unexpected behavior.

For example:

```
{

  "kubernetes.namespace": "dev",

  "kubernetes": {

    "namespace": "prod"

  }

}
```

To access the field with a literal dot in the name (`kubernetes.namespace`), use:

```
$d['kubernetes.namespace']
```

**result**

```
"dev"
```

To access the nested field inside the `kubernetes` object (`kubernetes.namespace`), use:

```
$d['kubernetes']['namespace']
```

**result**

```
"prod"
```

### 2. Field names with spaces

Dot notation doesn’t support spaces. Use bracket notation:

```
choose $d['Total Salary']
```

### 3. Field names with emojis or non-ASCII characters

Fields with special characters require brackets:

```
create face from case_equals {

  $m.severity,

  DEBUG    -> '🧐',

  VERBOSE  -> '😶‍🌫️',

  INFO     -> '🙂',

  WARNING  -> '😬',

  ERROR    -> '😩',

  CRITICAL -> '💀',

  _          -> '🤷'

}

| countby face as $d['🙂'] into $d['# of times I made this face'] 
```

**Output:**

| "🙂" | "# of times I made this face" |
| ---- | ----------------------------- |
| 💀   | 17275                         |
| 😩   | 55821                         |
| 😬   | 13084                         |
| 😶‍🌫️   | 318376                        |
| 🙂   | 2958063                       |
| 🧐   | 3727783                       |