View Source Logger (Logger v1.12.0)

A logger for Elixir applications.

It includes many features:

  • Provides debug, info, warn, and error levels.

  • Supports multiple backends which are automatically supervised when plugged into Logger.

  • Formats and truncates messages on the client to avoid clogging Logger backends.

  • Alternates between sync and async modes to remain performant when required but also apply backpressure when under stress.

  • Integrates with Erlang's :logger to convert terms to Elixir syntax.

Logging is useful for tracking when an event of interest happens in your system. For example, it may be helpful to log whenever a user is deleted.

def delete_user(user) do
  Logger.info("Deleting user from the system: #{inspect(user)}")
  # ...
end

The Logger.info/2 macro emits the provided message at the :info level. Note the arguments given to info/2 will only be evaluated if a message is logged. For instance, if the Logger level is set to :warning, :info messages are never logged and therefore the arguments given above won't even be executed.

There are additional macros for other levels.

Logger also allows log commands to be removed altogether via the :compile_time_purge_matching option (see below).

For dynamically logging messages, see bare_log/3. But note that bare_log/3 always evaluates its arguments (unless the argument is an anonymous function).

Levels

The supported levels, ordered by importance, are:

  • :emergency - when system is unusable, panics
  • :alert - for alerts, actions that must be taken immediately, ex. corrupted database
  • :critical - for critical conditions
  • :error - for errors
  • :warning - for warnings
  • :notice - for normal, but significant, messages
  • :info - for information of any kind
  • :debug - for debug-related messages

For example, :info takes precedence over :debug. If your log level is set to :info, then all :info, :notice and above will be passed to backends. If your log level is set to :alert, only :alert and :emergency will be printed.

Metadata

Whenever a message is logged, additional information can be given via metadata. Each log operation, such as Logger.info/2, allows metadata to be given as argument.

Furthermore, metadata can be set per process with Logger.metadata/1.

Some metadata, however, is always added automatically by Logger whenever possible. Those are:

  • :application - the current application

  • :mfa - the current module, function and arity

  • :file - the current file

  • :line - the current line

  • :pid - the current process identifier

  • :initial_call - the initial call that started the process

  • :registered_name - the process registered name as an atom

  • :domain - a list of domains for the logged message. For example, all Elixir reports default to [:elixir]. Erlang reports may start with [:otp] or [:sasl]

  • :crash_reason - a two-element tuple with the throw/error/exit reason as first argument and the stacktrace as second. A throw will always be {:nocatch, term}. An error is always an Exception struct. All other entries are exits. The console backend ignores this metadata by default but it can be useful to other backends, such as the ones that report errors to third-party services

Note that all metadata is optional and may not always be available. The :mfa, :file, :line, and similar metadata are automatically included when using Logger macros. Logger.bare_log/3 does not include any metadata beyond the :pid by default. Other metadata, such as :crash_reason, :initial_call, and :registered_name are available only inside behaviours such as GenServer, Supervisor, and others.

For example, you might wish to include a custom :error_code metadata in your logs:

Logger.error("We have a problem", [error_code: :pc_load_letter])

In your app's logger configuration, you would need to include the :error_code key and you would need to include $metadata as part of your log format template:

config :logger, :console,
 format: "[$level] $message $metadata\n",
 metadata: [:error_code, :file]

Your logs might then receive lines like this:

[error] We have a problem error_code=pc_load_letter file=lib/app.ex

Configuration

Logger supports a wide range of configurations.

This configuration is split in three categories:

  • Application configuration - must be set before the :logger application is started

  • Runtime configuration - can be set before the :logger application is started, but may be changed during runtime

  • Erlang configuration - options that handle integration with Erlang's logging facilities

Application configuration

The following configuration must be set via config files (such as config/config.exs) before the :logger application is started.

  • :backends - the backends to be used. Defaults to [:console]. See the "Backends" section for more information.

  • :compile_time_application - sets the :application metadata value to the configured value at compilation time. This configuration is automatically set by Mix and made available as metadata when logging.

  • :compile_time_purge_matching - purges at compilation time all calls that match the given conditions. This means that Logger calls with level lower than this option will be completely removed at compile time, accruing no overhead at runtime. This configuration expects a list of keyword lists. Each keyword list contains a metadata key and the matching value that should be purged. Some special keys are supported:

    • :level_lower_than - purges all messages with a lower logger level
    • :module - purges all messages with the matching module
    • :function - purges all messages with the "function/arity"

    Remember that if you want to purge log calls from a dependency, the dependency must be recompiled.

  • :start_options - passes start options to Logger's main process, such as :spawn_opt and :hibernate_after. All options in GenServer.option/0 are accepted, except :name.

For example, to configure the :backends and purge all calls that happen at compile time with level lower than :info in a config/config.exs file:

config :logger,
  backends: [:console],
  compile_time_purge_matching: [
    [level_lower_than: :info]
  ]

If you want to purge all log calls from an application named :foo and only keep errors from Bar.foo/3, you can set up two different matches:

config :logger,
  compile_time_purge_matching: [
    [application: :foo],
    [module: Bar, function: "foo/3", level_lower_than: :error]
  ]

Runtime Configuration

All configuration below can be set via config files (such as config/config.exs) but also changed dynamically during runtime via Logger.configure/1.

  • :level - the logging level. Attempting to log any message with severity less than the configured level will simply cause the message to be ignored. Keep in mind that each backend may have its specific level, too. In addition to levels mentioned above it also support 2 "meta-levels":

    • :all - all messages will be logged, conceptually identical to :debug
    • :none - no messages will be logged at all
  • :utc_log - when true, uses UTC in logs. By default it uses local time (i.e., it defaults to false).

  • :truncate - the maximum message size to be logged (in bytes). Defaults to 8192 bytes. Note this configuration is approximate. Truncated messages will have " (truncated)" at the end. The atom :infinity can be passed to disable this behavior.

  • :sync_threshold - if the Logger manager has more than :sync_threshold messages in its queue, Logger will change to sync mode, to apply backpressure to the clients. Logger will return to async mode once the number of messages in the queue is reduced to one below the sync_threshold. Defaults to 20 messages. :sync_threshold can be set to 0 to force sync mode.

  • :discard_threshold - if the Logger manager has more than :discard_threshold messages in its queue, Logger will change to discard mode and messages will be discarded directly in the clients. Logger will return to sync mode once the number of messages in the queue is reduced to one below the discard_threshold. Defaults to 500 messages.

  • :discard_threshold_periodic_check - a periodic check that checks and reports if logger is discarding messages. It logs a warning message whenever the system is (or continues) in discard mode and it logs a warning message whenever if the system was discarding messages but stopped doing so after the previous check. By default it runs every 30_000 milliseconds.

  • :translator_inspect_opts - when translating OTP reports and errors, the last message and state must be inspected in the error reports. This configuration allow developers to change how much and how the data should be inspected.

For example, to configure the :level and :truncate options in a config/config.exs file:

config :logger,
  level: :warning,
  truncate: 4096

Erlang/OTP integration

From Elixir v1.10, Elixir's Logger is fully integrated with Erlang's logger. They share the same Logger.level/0, any metadata set with Logger.metadata/1 applies to both, and so on.

Elixir also supports formatting Erlang reports using Elixir syntax. This can be controlled with two configurations:

  • :handle_otp_reports - redirects OTP reports to Logger so they are formatted in Elixir terms. This effectively disables Erlang standard logger. Defaults to true.

  • :handle_sasl_reports - redirects supervisor, crash and progress reports to Logger so they are formatted in Elixir terms. Your application must guarantee :sasl is started before :logger. This means you may see some initial reports written in Erlang syntax until the Logger application kicks in. Defaults to false. This option only has an effect if :handle_otp_reports is true.

For example, to configure Logger to redirect all Erlang messages using a config/config.exs file:

config :logger,
  handle_otp_reports: true,
  handle_sasl_reports: true

Furthermore, Logger allows messages sent by Erlang to be translated into an Elixir format via translators. Translators can be added at any time with the add_translator/1 and remove_translator/1 APIs. Check Logger.Translator for more information.

Backends

Logger supports different backends where log messages are written to.

The available backends by default are:

  • :console - logs messages to the console (enabled by default). :console is simply a shortcut for Logger.Backends.Console.

Developers may also implement their own backends, an option that is explored in more detail below.

The initial backends are loaded via the :backends configuration, which must be set before the :logger application is started. However, it preferred to add and remove backends via add_backend/2 and remove_backend/2 functions. This is often done in your Application.start/2 callback:

@impl true
def start(_type, _args) do
  Logger.add_backend(MyCustomBackend)

The backend can be configured either on the add_backend/2 call:

@impl true
def start(_type, _args) do
  Logger.add_backend(MyCustomBackend, some_config: ...)

Or in your config files:

config :logger, MyCustomBackend,
  some_config: ...

Elixir custom backends

Any developer can create their own Logger backend. Since Logger is an event manager powered by :gen_event, writing a new backend is a matter of creating an event handler, as described in the :gen_event documentation.

From now on, we will be using the term "event handler" to refer to your custom backend, as we head into implementation details.

Once the :logger application starts, it installs all event handlers listed under the :backends configuration into the Logger event manager. The event manager and all added event handlers are automatically supervised by Logger.

Note that if a backend fails to start by returning {:error, :ignore} from its init/1 callback, then it's not added to the backends but nothing fails. If a backend fails to start by returning {:error, reason} from its init/1 callback, the :logger application will fail to start.

Once initialized, the handler should be designed to handle the following events:

  • {level, group_leader, {Logger, message, timestamp, metadata}} where:

    • level is one of :debug, :info, :warn, or :error, as previously described (for compatibility with pre 1.10 backends the :notice will be translated to :info and all messages above :error will be translated to :error)
    • group_leader is the group leader of the process which logged the message
    • {Logger, message, timestamp, metadata} is a tuple containing information about the logged message:
      • the first element is always the atom Logger
      • message is the actual message (as chardata)
      • timestamp is the timestamp for when the message was logged, as a {{year, month, day}, {hour, minute, second, millisecond}} tuple
      • metadata is a keyword list of metadata used when logging the message
  • :flush

It is recommended that handlers ignore messages where the group leader is in a different node than the one where the handler is installed. For example:

def handle_event({_level, gl, {Logger, _, _, _}}, state)
    when node(gl) != node() do
  {:ok, state}
end

In the case of the event :flush handlers should flush any pending data. This event is triggered by Logger.flush/0.

Furthermore, backends can be configured via the configure_backend/2 function which requires event handlers to handle calls of the following format:

{:configure, options}

where options is a keyword list. The result of the call is the result returned by configure_backend/2. The recommended return value for successful configuration is :ok. For example:

def handle_call({:configure, options}, state) do
  new_state = reconfigure_state(state, options)
  {:ok, :ok, new_state}
end

It is recommended that backends support at least the following configuration options:

  • :level - the logging level for that backend
  • :format - the logging format for that backend
  • :metadata - the metadata to include in that backend

Check the Logger.Backends.Console implementation in Elixir's codebase for examples on how to handle the recommendations in this section and how to process the existing options.

Erlang/OTP handlers

While Elixir Logger provides backends, Erlang/OTP logger provides handlers. They represent the same concept: the ability to integrate into the logging system to handle each logged message/event.

However, implementation-wise, they have the following differences:

  • Elixir backends run in a separate process which comes with overload protection. However, because this process is a single GenEvent, any long running action should be avoided, as it can lead to bottlenecks in the system

  • Erlang handlers run in the same process as the process logging the message/event. This gives developers more flexibility but they should avoid performing any long running action in such handlers, as it may slow down the action being executed considerably. At the moment, there is no built-in overload protection for Erlang handlers, so it is your responsibility to implement it

The good news is that developers can use third-party implementations of both Elixir backends and Erlang handlers. We have already covered Elixir backends, so let's see how to add Erlang/OTP handlers.

Erlang/OTP handlers must be listed under your own application:

config :my_app, :logger, [
  {:handler, :name_of_the_handler, ACustomHandler, configuration = %{}}
]

And then, explicitly attached in your Application.start/2 callback:

:logger.add_handlers(:my_app)

Note we do not recommend configuring Erlang/OTP's logger directly under the :kernel application in your config/config.exs, like this:

# Not recommended:
config :kernel, :logger, ...

This is because by the time Elixir starts, Erlang's kernel has already been started, which means the configuration above would have no effect.

Link to this section Summary

Functions

Adds a new backend.

Adds a new translator.

Compares log levels.

Configures the logger.

Configures the given backend.

Logs a critical message.

Deletes logging level for all modules to primary level

Deletes logging level for given module to primary level.

Disables logging for the current process.

Logs a emergency message.

Enables logging for the current process.

Returns whether the logging is enabled for given process.

Flushes the logger.

Gets logging level for given module.

Retrieves the Logger level.

Logs a message with the given level.

Reads the current process metadata.

Alters the current process metadata according the given keyword list.

Puts logging level for given module.

Removes a translator.

Resets the current process metadata to the given keyword list.

Logs a warning message.

Logs a warning message.

Link to this section Types

@type backend() :: :gen_event.handler()
@type level() ::
  :emergency
  | :alert
  | :critical
  | :error
  | :warning
  | :warn
  | :notice
  | :info
  | :debug
@type message() :: :unicode.chardata() | String.Chars.t() | report()
@type metadata() :: keyword()
@type report() :: map() | keyword()

Link to this section Functions

Link to this function

add_backend(backend, opts \\ [])

View Source
@spec add_backend(backend(), keyword()) :: Supervisor.on_start_child()

Adds a new backend.

Adding a backend calls the init/1 function in that backend with the name of the backend as its argument. For example, calling

Logger.add_backend(MyBackend)

will call MyBackend.init(MyBackend) to initialize the new backend. If the backend's init/1 callback returns {:ok, _}, then this function returns {:ok, pid}. If the handler returns {:error, :ignore} from init/1, this function still returns {:ok, pid} but the handler is not started. If the handler returns {:error, reason} from init/1, this function returns {:error, {reason, info}} where info is more information on the backend that failed to start.

Backends added by this function are not persisted. Therefore if the Logger application or supervision tree is restarted, the backend won't be available. If you need this guarantee, then configure the backend via the application environment:

config :logger, :backends, [MyBackend]

Options

  • :flush - when true, guarantees all messages currently sent to Logger are processed before the backend is added

Examples

{:ok, _pid} = Logger.add_backend(MyBackend, flush: true)
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add_translator(translator)

View Source
@spec add_translator({module(), function :: atom()}) :: :ok

Adds a new translator.

Link to this macro

alert(message_or_fun, metadata \\ [])

View Source (since 1.11.0) (macro)

Logs a alert message.

Returns :ok.

This is reported as "error" in Elixir's logger backends for backwards compatibility reasons.

Examples

Logging a message (string or iodata):

Logger.alert("this is a alert message")

Report message (maps or keywords):

# as keyword list
Logger.alert([something: :reported, this: :alert])

# as map
Logger.alert(%{something: :reported, this: :alert})
Link to this function

bare_log(level, message_or_fun, metadata \\ [])

View Source
@spec bare_log(
  level(),
  message() | (() -> message() | {message(), keyword()}),
  keyword()
) :: :ok

Logs a message dynamically.

Opposite to log/3, debug/2, info/2, and friends, the arguments given to bare_log/3 are always evaluated. However, you can pass anonymous functions to bare_log/3 and they will only be evaluated if there is something to be logged.

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compare_levels(left, right)

View Source
@spec compare_levels(level(), level()) :: :lt | :eq | :gt

Compares log levels.

Receives two log levels and compares the left level against the right level and returns:

  • :lt if left is less than right
  • :eq if left and right are equal
  • :gt if left is greater than right

Examples

iex> Logger.compare_levels(:debug, :warning)
:lt
iex> Logger.compare_levels(:error, :info)
:gt
@spec configure(keyword()) :: :ok

Configures the logger.

See the "Runtime Configuration" section in the Logger module documentation for the available options. The changes done here are automatically persisted to the :logger application environment.

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configure_backend(backend, options)

View Source
@spec configure_backend(backend(), keyword()) :: term()

Configures the given backend.

The backend needs to be started and running in order to be configured at runtime.

Link to this macro

critical(message_or_fun, metadata \\ [])

View Source (since 1.11.0) (macro)

Logs a critical message.

Returns :ok.

This is reported as "error" in Elixir's logger backends for backwards compatibility reasons.

Examples

Logging a message (string or iodata):

Logger.critical("this is a critical message")

Report message (maps or keywords):

# as keyword list
Logger.critical([something: :reported, this: :critical])

# as map
Logger.critical(%{something: :reported, this: :critical})
Link to this macro

debug(message_or_fun, metadata \\ [])

View Source (since 1.11.0) (macro)

Logs a debug message.

Returns :ok.

Examples

Logging a message (string or iodata):

Logger.debug("this is a debug message")

Report message (maps or keywords):

# as keyword list
Logger.debug([something: :reported, this: :debug])

# as map
Logger.debug(%{something: :reported, this: :debug})
Link to this function

delete_all_module_levels()

View Source (since 1.11.0)
@spec delete_all_module_levels() :: :ok

Deletes logging level for all modules to primary level

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delete_module_level(module)

View Source (since 1.11.0)
@spec delete_module_level(module() | [module()]) :: :ok

Deletes logging level for given module to primary level.

@spec disable(pid()) :: :ok

Disables logging for the current process.

Currently the only accepted PID is self().

Link to this macro

emergency(message_or_fun, metadata \\ [])

View Source (since 1.11.0) (macro)

Logs a emergency message.

Returns :ok.

This is reported as "error" in Elixir's logger backends for backwards compatibility reasons.

Examples

Logging a message (string or iodata):

Logger.emergency("this is a emergency message")

Report message (maps or keywords):

# as keyword list
Logger.emergency([something: :reported, this: :emergency])

# as map
Logger.emergency(%{something: :reported, this: :emergency})
@spec enable(pid()) :: :ok

Enables logging for the current process.

Currently the only accepted PID is self().

Link to this function

enabled?(pid)

View Source (since 1.10.0)
@spec enabled?(pid()) :: boolean()

Returns whether the logging is enabled for given process.

Currently the only accepted PID is self().

Link to this macro

error(message_or_fun, metadata \\ [])

View Source (since 1.11.0) (macro)

Logs a error message.

Returns :ok.

Examples

Logging a message (string or iodata):

Logger.error("this is a error message")

Report message (maps or keywords):

# as keyword list
Logger.error([something: :reported, this: :error])

# as map
Logger.error(%{something: :reported, this: :error})
@spec flush() :: :ok

Flushes the logger.

This guarantees all messages sent to Logger prior to this call will be processed. This is useful for testing and it should not be called in production code.

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get_module_level(mod)

View Source (since 1.11.0)
@spec get_module_level(module() | [module()]) :: [{module(), level() | :all | :none}]

Gets logging level for given module.

Returned value will be the effective value used. If no value was set for given module, then it will not be present in the returned list.

Link to this macro

info(message_or_fun, metadata \\ [])

View Source (since 1.11.0) (macro)

Logs a info message.

Returns :ok.

Examples

Logging a message (string or iodata):

Logger.info("this is a info message")

Report message (maps or keywords):

# as keyword list
Logger.info([something: :reported, this: :info])

# as map
Logger.info(%{something: :reported, this: :info})
@spec level() :: level()

Retrieves the Logger level.

The Logger level can be changed via configure/1.

Link to this macro

log(level, message_or_fun, metadata \\ [])

View Source (macro)

Logs a message with the given level.

Returns :ok.

The macros debug/2, info/2, notice/2, warning/2, error/2, critical/2, alert/2, and emergency/2 are preferred over this macro as they can automatically eliminate the call to Logger altogether at compile time if desired (see the documentation for the Logger module).

@spec metadata() :: metadata()

Reads the current process metadata.

@spec metadata(metadata()) :: :ok

Alters the current process metadata according the given keyword list.

This function will merge the given keyword list into the existing metadata, with the exception of setting a key to nil, which will remove that key from the metadata.

Link to this macro

notice(message_or_fun, metadata \\ [])

View Source (since 1.11.0) (macro)

Logs a notice message.

Returns :ok.

This is reported as "info" in Elixir's logger backends for backwards compatibility reasons.

Examples

Logging a message (string or iodata):

Logger.notice("this is a notice message")

Report message (maps or keywords):

# as keyword list
Logger.notice([something: :reported, this: :notice])

# as map
Logger.notice(%{something: :reported, this: :notice})
Link to this function

put_module_level(mod, level)

View Source (since 1.11.0)
@spec put_module_level(module(), level() | :all | :none) :: :ok | {:error, term()}

Puts logging level for given module.

This will take priority over the primary level set, so it can be used to increase or decrease verbosity of some parts of the project.

Example

defmodule Foo do
  require Logger

  def log, do: Logger.debug("foo")
end

Logger.configure(level: :error)
Logger.put_module_level(Foo, :all)

Foo.log()
# This will print the message even if global level is :error
Link to this function

remove_backend(backend, opts \\ [])

View Source
@spec remove_backend(backend(), keyword()) :: :ok | {:error, term()}

Removes a backend.

Options

  • :flush - when true, guarantees all messages currently sent to Logger are processed before the backend is removed
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remove_translator(translator)

View Source
@spec remove_translator({module(), function :: atom()}) :: :ok

Removes a translator.

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reset_metadata(keyword \\ [])

View Source
@spec reset_metadata(metadata()) :: :ok

Resets the current process metadata to the given keyword list.

Link to this macro

warn(message_or_fun, metadata \\ [])

View Source (macro)

Logs a warning message.

Returns :ok.

This macro is deprecated in favour of warning/2.

Examples

Logger.warn("knob turned too far to the right")
Link to this macro

warning(message_or_fun, metadata \\ [])

View Source (since 1.11.0) (macro)

Logs a warning message.

Returns :ok.

This is reported as "warn" in Elixir's logger backends for backwards compatibility reasons.

Examples

Logging a message (string or iodata):

Logger.warning("this is a warning message")

Report message (maps or keywords):

# as keyword list
Logger.warning([something: :reported, this: :warning])

# as map
Logger.warning(%{something: :reported, this: :warning})