Log4j hello world example

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In this tutorial, we will show you how to use the classic log4j 1.2.x to log a debug or error message in a Java application.

1. Project Directory

Review the final project structure, a standard Maven style Java project.

log4j-hello-world

2. Get Log4j

Declares the following dependencies :

pom.xml

                              <dependency> 		<groupId>log4j</groupId> 		<artifactId>log4j</artifactId> 		<version>1.2.17</version> 	</dependency>

For non-Maven user, visit log4j official page, download the jar and put it in the project library path manually.

3. log4j.properties

Create a log4j.properties file and put it into the resources folder. Refer to the step #1 above.

Note

  1. For standalone Java app, make sure the log4j.properties file is under the project/classes directory
  2. For Java web applications, make sure the log4j.properties file is under the WEB-INF/classes directory

log4j.properties

                              # Root logger option log4j.rootLogger=DEBUG, stdout, file  # Redirect log messages to console log4j.appender.stdout=org.apache.log4j.ConsoleAppender log4j.appender.stdout.Target=System.out log4j.appender.stdout.layout=org.apache.log4j.PatternLayout log4j.appender.stdout.layout.ConversionPattern=%d{yyyy-MM-dd HH:mm:ss} %-5p %c{1}:%L - %m%n  # Redirect log messages to a log file, support file rolling. log4j.appender.file=org.apache.log4j.RollingFileAppender log4j.appender.file.File=C:\\log4j-application.log log4j.appender.file.MaxFileSize=5MB log4j.appender.file.MaxBackupIndex=10 log4j.appender.file.layout=org.apache.log4j.PatternLayout log4j.appender.file.layout.ConversionPattern=%d{yyyy-MM-dd HH:mm:ss} %-5p %c{1}:%L - %m%n

Note
To understand the symbols in the ConversionPattern, please refer to this log4j PatternLayout guide.

Let break it down :

  1. %d{yyyy-MM-dd HH:mm:ss} = Date and time format, refer to SimpleDateFormat JavaDoc.
  2. %-5p = The logging priority, like DEBUG or ERROR. The -5 is optional, for the pretty print format.
  3. %c{1} = The logging name we set via getLogger(), refer to log4j PatternLayout guide.
  4. %L = The line number from where the logging request.
  5. %m%n = The message to log and line break.

Log message examples :

                              2014-07-02 20:52:39 DEBUG className:200 - This is debug message 2014-07-02 20:52:39 DEBUG className:201 - This is debug message2

4. Demo – How to log a Message?

To log a message, first, create a final static logger and define a name for the logger, normally, we use the full package class name.

                                  final static Logger logger = Logger.getLogger(classname.class);

Then, logs messages with different priorities, for example, debug, info, warn, error and fatal. Normally, you just need to use debug or error.

                                  //logs a debug message 	if(logger.isDebugEnabled()){ 	    logger.debug("This is debug"); 	} 	 	//logs an error message with parameter 	logger.error("This is error : " + parameter); 	 	//logs an exception thrown from somewhere 	logger.error("This is error", exception);

4.1 Example : Logger is set to debug priority.

log4j.properties

                                  log4j.rootLogger=DEBUG, stdout  #...

HelloExample.java

                                  package com.mkyong;  import org.apache.log4j.Logger;  public class HelloExample{ 	 	final static Logger logger = Logger.getLogger(HelloExample.class); 	 	public static void main(String[] args) { 	 		HelloExample obj = new HelloExample(); 		obj.runMe("mkyong"); 		 	} 	 	private void runMe(String parameter){ 		 		if(logger.isDebugEnabled()){ 			logger.debug("This is debug : " + parameter); 		} 		 		if(logger.isInfoEnabled()){ 			logger.info("This is info : " + parameter); 		} 		 		logger.warn("This is warn : " + parameter); 		logger.error("This is error : " + parameter); 		logger.fatal("This is fatal : " + parameter); 		 	} 	 }

Output

                                  2014-07-02 20:52:39 DEBUG HelloExample:19 - This is debug : mkyong 2014-07-02 20:52:39 INFO  HelloExample:23 - This is info : mkyong 2014-07-02 20:52:39 WARN  HelloExample:26 - This is warn : mkyong 2014-07-02 20:52:39 ERROR HelloExample:27 - This is error : mkyong 2014-07-02 20:52:39 FATAL HelloExample:28 - This is fatal : mkyong

4.2 Example – Logger is set to error priority.

log4j.properties

                                  log4j.rootLogger=error, stdout  #...

Run the HelloExample again, you will get the following output

                                  2014-07-02 20:56:02 ERROR HelloExample:27 - This is error : mkyong 2014-07-02 20:56:02 FATAL HelloExample:28 - This is fatal : mkyong

Review the log4j's Priority class.

Priority.java

                                  package org.apache.log4j;  public class Priority {    public final static int OFF_INT = Integer.MAX_VALUE;   public final static int FATAL_INT = 50000;   public final static int ERROR_INT = 40000;   public final static int WARN_INT  = 30000;   public final static int INFO_INT  = 20000;   public final static int DEBUG_INT = 10000;     //public final static int FINE_INT = DEBUG_INT;   public final static int ALL_INT = Integer.MIN_VALUE;

If priority is defined in log4j.properties, only the same or above priority message will be logged.

5. Demo – How to log an Exception

An example to show you how to use log4j to log an exception.

HelloExample2.java

                                  package com.mkyong;  import org.apache.log4j.Logger;  public class HelloExample2{ 	 	final static Logger logger = Logger.getLogger(HelloExample2.class); 	 	public static void main(String[] args) { 	 		HelloExample2 obj = new HelloExample2(); 		 		try{ 			obj.divide(); 		}catch(ArithmeticException ex){ 			logger.error("Sorry, something wrong!", ex); 		} 		 		 	} 	 	private void divide(){ 		 		int i = 10 /0;  	} 	 }

Output

                                  2014-07-02 21:03:10 ERROR HelloExample2:16 - Sorry, something wrong! java.lang.ArithmeticException: / by zero 	at com.mkyong.HelloExample2.divide(HelloExample2.java:24) 	at com.mkyong.HelloExample2.main(HelloExample2.java:14)

Done.

Download Source Code

References

  1. log4j 1.2 official page
  2. log4j pattern layout
  3. Wikipedia : log4j
  4. Spring MVC + log4j example
  5. log4j.properties examples

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