java.util.logging Code Samples

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How do I create a rolling log files?

In this example we create a rolling or a sequenced of log files. Instead of just limiting the file size (see. How do I limit the size of log file) we can also make the log file to roll. This will prevent a lost to an important log message if we use a single log file.

When using more that one file the log file name will have a sequence number in it starting from 0 to N-1. If we set the count to 5 then we'll have log files such as myapp.log.0, myapp.log.1 up to myapp.log.5.

If the first log file (myapp.log.0) is about to full, it will be renamed to (myapp.log.1) before the log is written to the first log file. The log is always written to the first file (myapp.log.0).

To read the log messages in sequence you need to start from the highest to the lowest sequence number.

package org.kodejava.example.util.logging;

import java.util.logging.Logger;
import java.util.logging.FileHandler;
import java.util.logging.SimpleFormatter;
import java.io.IOException;

public class RollingLogFile {
    //
    // Set a small log file size to demonstrate the rolling log files.
    //
    public static final int FILE_SIZE = 1024;

    public static void main(String[] args) {
        Logger logger = Logger.getLogger(RollingLogFile.class.getName());

        try {
            //
            // Creating an instance of FileHandler with 5 logging files
            // sequences.
            //
            FileHandler handler = new FileHandler("myapp.log", FILE_SIZE, 5, true);
            handler.setFormatter(new SimpleFormatter());
            logger.addHandler(handler);
            logger.setUseParentHandlers(false);
        } catch (IOException e) {
            logger.warning("Failed to initialize logger handler.");
        }

        logger.info("Logging information message.");
        logger.warning("Logging warning message.");
    }
}

By running this program multiple times you'll see the creation of the log file one by one.

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