Step 01: - Remove all newlines from json so as to leave one line - See http://stackoverflow.com/questions/1251999/how-can-i-replace-a-newline-n-using-sed $ cat input.json | sed -e ':a' -e 'N' -e '$!ba' -e 's/\n/ /g' > output01.json Step 02: - Load single line json file into elasticsearch with logstash - Remember to '$ unset JAVA_OPTS' - Remember to delete ~/.sincedb_* if not working $ ~/bin/logstash/bin/logstash agent -f step02.conf