diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 41cebcb..76dfdfd 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -81,6 +81,8 @@ Available parameters are:
 - `[DRAIN]/sim_th` - similarity threshold (default 0.4)
 - `[DRAIN]/depth` - depth of all leaf nodes (default 4)
 - `[DRAIN]/max_children` - max number of children of an internal node (default 100)
+- `[DRAIN]/extra_delimiters` - delimiters to apply when splitting log message into words (in addition to whitespace) (default none).
+    Format is a Python list e.g. `['_', ':']`.
 - `[MASKING]/masking` - parameters masking - in json format (default "")
 - `[SNAPSHOT]/snapshot_interval_minutes` - time interval for new snapshots (default 1)
 - `[SNAPSHOT]/compress_state` - whether to compress the state before saving it. This can be useful when using Kafka persistence. 
@@ -192,6 +194,9 @@ Our project welcomes external contributions. Please refer to [CONTRIBUTING.md](C
 
 ## Change Log
 
+##### v0.8.6
+* Added `extra_delimiters` configuration option to Drain  
+
 ##### v0.8.5
 * Profiler improvements  
 
diff --git a/drain3/drain.py b/drain3/drain.py
index af9077c..29542cb 100644
--- a/drain3/drain.py
+++ b/drain3/drain.py
@@ -32,13 +32,19 @@ def __init__(self, key, depth):
 
 class Drain:
 
-    def __init__(self, depth=4, sim_th=0.4, max_children=100, profiler: Profiler = NullProfiler()):
+    def __init__(self,
+                 depth=4,
+                 sim_th=0.4,
+                 max_children=100,
+                 extra_delimiters=(),
+                 profiler: Profiler = NullProfiler()):
         """
         Attributes
         ----------
             depth : depth of all leaf nodes (nodes that contain log clusters)
             sim_th : similarity threshold
             max_children : max number of children of an internal node
+            extra_delimiters: delimiters to apply when splitting log message into words (in addition to whitespace).
         """
         self.depth = depth - 2  # number of prefix tokens in each tree path (exclude root and leaf node)
         self.sim_th = sim_th
@@ -46,6 +52,7 @@ def __init__(self, depth=4, sim_th=0.4, max_children=100, profiler: Profiler = N
         self.clusters = []
         self.root_node = Node("(ROOT)", 0)
         self.profiler = profiler
+        self.extra_delimiters = extra_delimiters
 
     @staticmethod
     def has_numbers(s):
@@ -231,6 +238,9 @@ def num_to_cluster_id(num):
 
     def add_log_message(self, content: str):
         content = content.strip()
+        for delimiter in self.extra_delimiters:
+            content = content.replace(delimiter, " ")
+
         content_tokens = content.split()
 
         if self.profiler:
diff --git a/drain3/template_miner.py b/drain3/template_miner.py
index f901033..b0e7806 100644
--- a/drain3/template_miner.py
+++ b/drain3/template_miner.py
@@ -4,6 +4,7 @@
 Author_email: david.ohana@ibm.com, moshikh@il.ibm.com, eranra@il.ibm.com
 License     : MIT
 """
+import ast
 import base64
 import configparser
 import logging
@@ -37,10 +38,15 @@ def __init__(self, persistence_handler: PersistenceHandler = None):
         self.persistence_handler = persistence_handler
         self.snapshot_interval_seconds = self.config.getint('SNAPSHOT', 'snapshot_interval_minutes', fallback=5) * 60
         self.compress_state = self.config.getboolean('SNAPSHOT', 'compress_state', fallback=True)
+
+        extra_delimiters = self.config.get('DRAIN', 'extra_delimiters', fallback="[]")
+        extra_delimiters = ast.literal_eval(extra_delimiters)
+
         self.drain = Drain(
             sim_th=self.config.getfloat('DRAIN', 'sim_th', fallback=0.4),
             depth=self.config.getint('DRAIN', 'depth', fallback=4),
             max_children=self.config.getint('DRAIN', 'max_children', fallback=100),
+            extra_delimiters=extra_delimiters,
             profiler=self.profiler
         )
         self.masker = LogMasker(self.config)
diff --git a/examples/drain3.ini b/examples/drain3.ini
index e826179..cc99fed 100644
--- a/examples/drain3.ini
+++ b/examples/drain3.ini
@@ -17,7 +17,7 @@ masking = [
 sim_th = 0.4
 depth = 4
 max_children = 100
-
+extra_delimiters = ["_"]
 
 [PROFILING]
 enabled = True
diff --git a/setup.py b/setup.py
index 9ed2de8..fd842dd 100644
--- a/setup.py
+++ b/setup.py
@@ -9,7 +9,7 @@
 setup(
     name='drain3',
     packages=['drain3'],
-    version="0.8.5",
+    version="0.8.6",
     license='MIT',
     description="Persistent & streaming log template miner",
     long_description=long_description,