Setting a log file name to include current date in Log4j

Java Problem Overview

I would like to set the log file name for a log4j and log4net appender to have the current date. We are doing Daily rollovers but the current log file does not have a date. The log file name format would be

logname.2008-10-10.log

Anyone know the best way for me to do this?

edit: I forgot to mention that we would want to do this in log4net as well. Plus any solution would need to be usable in JBoss.

Java Solutions

Solution 1 - Java

DailyRollingFileAppender is what you exactly searching for.

<appender name="roll" class="org.apache.log4j.DailyRollingFileAppender">
    <param name="File" value="application.log" />
    <param name="DatePattern" value=".yyyy-MM-dd" />
    <layout class="org.apache.log4j.PatternLayout"> 
      <param name="ConversionPattern" 
          value="%d{yyyy-MMM-dd HH:mm:ss,SSS} [%t] %c %x%n  %-5p %m%n"/>
    </layout>
  </appender>

Solution 2 - Java

Using log4j.properties file, and including apache-log4j-extras 1.1 in my POM with log4j 1.2.16

log4j.appender.LOGFILE=org.apache.log4j.rolling.RollingFileAppender
log4j.appender.LOGFILE.RollingPolicy=org.apache.log4j.rolling.TimeBasedRollingPolicy
log4j.appender.LOGFILE.RollingPolicy.FileNamePattern=/logs/application_%d{yyyy-MM-dd}.log

Solution 3 - Java

I'm 99% sure that RollingFileAppender/DailyRollingFileAppender, while it gives you the date-rolling functionality you want, doesn't have any way to specify that the current log file should use the DatePattern as well.

You might just be able to simply subclass RollingFileAppender (or DailyRollingFileAppender, I forget which is which in log4net) and modify the naming logic.

Solution 4 - Java

I have created an appender that will do that. http://stauffer.james.googlepages.com/DateFormatFileAppender.java

/*
 * Copyright (C) The Apache Software Foundation. All rights reserved.
 *
 * This software is published under the terms of the Apache Software
 * License version 1.1, a copy of which has been included with this
 * distribution in the LICENSE.txt file.  */

package sps.log.log4j;

import java.io.IOException;
import java.io.File;
import java.text.SimpleDateFormat;
import java.util.Date;

import org.apache.log4j.*;
import org.apache.log4j.helpers.LogLog;
import org.apache.log4j.spi.LoggingEvent;

/**
 * DateFormatFileAppender is a log4j Appender and extends 
 * {@link FileAppender} so each log is 
 * named based on a date format defined in the File property.
 *
 * Sample File: 'logs/'yyyy/MM-MMM/dd-EEE/HH-mm-ss-S'.log'
 * Makes a file like: logs/2004/04-Apr/13-Tue/09-45-15-937.log
 * @author James Stauffer
 */
public class DateFormatFileAppender extends FileAppender {

  /**
   * The default constructor does nothing.
   */
  public DateFormatFileAppender() {
  }

  /**
   * Instantiate a <code>DailyRollingFileAppender</code> and open the
   * file designated by <code>filename</code>. The opened filename will
   * become the ouput destination for this appender.
   */
  public DateFormatFileAppender (Layout layout, String filename) throws IOException {
    super(layout, filename, true);
  }

  private String fileBackup;//Saves the file pattern
  private boolean separate = false;

  public void setFile(String file) {
    super.setFile(file);
    this.fileBackup = getFile();
  }

  /**
   * If true each LoggingEvent causes that file to close and open.
   * This is useful when the file is a pattern that would often
   * produce a different filename.
   */
  public void setSeparate(boolean separate) {
    this.separate = separate;
  }

  protected void subAppend(LoggingEvent event) {
    if(separate) {
        try {//First reset the file so each new log gets a new file.
            setFile(getFile(), getAppend(), getBufferedIO(), getBufferSize());
        } catch(IOException e) {
            LogLog.error("Unable to reset fileName.");
        }
    }
    super.subAppend(event);
  }


  public
  synchronized
  void setFile(String fileName, boolean append, boolean bufferedIO, int bufferSize)
                                                            throws IOException {
    SimpleDateFormat sdf = new SimpleDateFormat(fileBackup);
    String actualFileName = sdf.format(new Date());
    makeDirs(actualFileName);
    super.setFile(actualFileName, append, bufferedIO, bufferSize);
  }

  /**
   * Ensures that all of the directories for the given path exist.
   * Anything after the last / or \ is assumed to be a filename.
   */
  private void makeDirs (String path) {
    int indexSlash = path.lastIndexOf("/");
    int indexBackSlash = path.lastIndexOf("\\");
    int index = Math.max(indexSlash, indexBackSlash);
    if(index > 0) {
        String dirs = path.substring(0, index);
//        LogLog.debug("Making " + dirs);
        File dir = new File(dirs);
        if(!dir.exists()) {
            boolean success = dir.mkdirs();
            if(!success) {
                LogLog.error("Unable to create directories for " + dirs);
            }
        }
    }
  }

}

Solution 5 - Java

I don't know if it is possible in Java, but in .NET the property StaticLogFileName on RollingFileAppender gives you what you want. The default is true.

<staticLogFileName value="false"/>

Full config:

<appender name="DefaultFileAppender" type="log4net.Appender.RollingFileAppender">
  <file value="application"/>
  <staticLogFileName value="false"/>
  <appendToFile value="true" />
  <rollingStyle value="Date" />
  <datePattern value="yyyy-MM-dd&quot;.log&quot;" />
  <layout type="log4net.Layout.PatternLayout">
    <conversionPattern value="%date [%thread] %-5level %logger [%property{NDC}] - %message%newline" />
  </layout>
</appender>

".log" is for not letting the dateformat recognice the global date pattern 'g' in log.

Solution 6 - Java

this example will be creating logger for each minute, if you want to change for each day change the DatePattern value.

<appender name="ASYNC" class="org.apache.log4j.DailyRollingFileAppender">
   <param name="File" value="./applogs/logger.log" />
   <param name="Append" value="true" />
   <param name="Threshold" value="debug" />
   <appendToFile value="true" />
   <param name="DatePattern" value="'.'yyyy_MM_dd_HH_mm"/>
   <rollingPolicy class="org.apache.log4j.rolling.TimeBasedRollingPolicy">
      <param name="fileNamePattern" value="./applogs/logger_%d{ddMMMyyyy HH:mm:ss}.log"/>
      <param name="rollOver" value="TRUE"/>
   </rollingPolicy>
   <layout class="org.apache.log4j.PatternLayout">
      <param name="ConversionPattern" value="%d{ddMMMyyyy HH:mm:ss,SSS}^[%X{l4j_mdc_key}]^[%c{1}]^ %-5p %m%n" />
   </layout>
</appender>
<root>
   <level value="info" />
   <appender-ref ref="ASYNC" />
</root>

Solution 7 - Java

As a response to the two answers which mention DailyRollingFileAppender (sorry, I don't have enough rep to comment on them directly, and I think this needs to be mentioned), I would warn that unfortunately the developers of that class have documented that it exhibits synchronization and data loss, and recommend that alternatives should be pursued for new deployments.

DailyRollingFileAppender JavaDoc

Solution 8 - Java

You can set FileAppender dynamically

SimpleLayout layout = new SimpleLayout();           
FileAppender appender = new FileAppender(layout,"logname."+new Date().toLocaleString(),false);
logger.addAppender(appender);

Solution 9 - Java

Even if you use DailyRollingFileAppender like @gedevan suggested, you will still get logname.log.2008-10-10 (After a day, because the previous day log will get archived and the date will be concatenated to it's filename).

So if you want .log at the end, you'll have to do it like this on the DatePattern:

log4j.appender.file.DatePattern='.'yyyy-MM-dd-HH-mm'.log'

Solution 10 - Java

You can do it programmatically like so:

        String dateFile = LocalDate.now().toString() + ".log";
		Enumeration enm = Logger.getRootLogger().getAllAppenders();
		Appender appender = null;
		while(enm.hasMoreElements()){
			appender = (Appender)enm.nextElement();
			String c = appender.getClass().toString();
			if(c.contains("FileAppender")){
				String f = ((FileAppender)appender).getFile();
				((FileAppender)appender).setFile(f+dateFile);
				System.out.println("From:"+f+" to:"+dateFile);
			}
		}

Solution 11 - Java

just use TimeBasedRollingPolicy and don't use param name="File"

  <appender name="pdi-execution-appender" class="org.apache.log4j.rolling.RollingFileAppender">   
	    <!-- The active file to log to; this example is for Pentaho Server.-->
	    <param name="Append" value="true" />
        <param name="Threshold" value="INFO"/>
	    <rollingPolicy class="org.apache.log4j.rolling.TimeBasedRollingPolicy">
	        <!-- See javadoc for TimeBasedRollingPolicy -->
	        <param name="FileNamePattern" value="logs/ETL-LogFile.%d{yyyyMMdd}.log" />
	    </rollingPolicy>
	    <layout class="org.apache.log4j.PatternLayout">
	        <param name="ConversionPattern" value='%d{yyyy-MM-dd HH:mm:ss.SSS} %-5p [%t] %m'/>
	    </layout>
  </appender>

Content Type	Original Author	Original Content on Stackoverflow
Question	Tim	View Question on Stackoverflow
Solution 1 - Java	gedevan	View Answer on Stackoverflow
Solution 2 - Java	shinds	View Answer on Stackoverflow
Solution 3 - Java	matt b	View Answer on Stackoverflow
Solution 4 - Java	James A. N. Stauffer	View Answer on Stackoverflow
Solution 5 - Java	Lars Corneliussen	View Answer on Stackoverflow
Solution 6 - Java	codder	View Answer on Stackoverflow
Solution 7 - Java	romeara	View Answer on Stackoverflow
Solution 8 - Java	SANN3	View Answer on Stackoverflow
Solution 9 - Java	rpajaziti	View Answer on Stackoverflow
Solution 10 - Java	john ktejik	View Answer on Stackoverflow
Solution 11 - Java	jimmybow	View Answer on Stackoverflow