New in version 2.3. This module defines functions and classes which implement a flexible error logging system for applications.
Logging is performed by calling methods on instances of the Logger class (hereafter called loggers). Each instance has a name, and they are conceptually arranged in a name space hierarchy using dots (periods) as separators. For example, a logger named "scan" is the parent of loggers "scan.text", "scan.html" and "scan.pdf". Logger names can be anything you want, and indicate the area of an application in which a logged message originates.
Logged messages also have levels of importance associated with them. The default levels provided are DEBUG, INFO, WARNING, ERROR and CRITICAL. As a convenience, you indicate the importance of a logged message by calling an appropriate method of Logger. The methods are debug(), info(), warning(), error() and critical(), which mirror the default levels. You are not constrained to use these levels: you can specify your own and use a more general Logger method, log(), which takes an explicit level argument.
The numeric values of logging levels are given in the following table. These are primarily of interest if you want to define your own levels, and need them to have specific values relative to the predefined levels. If you define a level with the same numeric value, it overwrites the predefined value; the predefined name is lost.
Level | Numeric value |
---|---|
CRITICAL |
50 |
ERROR |
40 |
WARNING |
30 |
INFO |
20 |
DEBUG |
10 |
NOTSET |
0 |
Levels can also be associated with loggers, being set either by the developer or through loading a saved logging configuration. When a logging method is called on a logger, the logger compares its own level with the level associated with the method call. If the logger's level is higher than the method call's, no logging message is actually generated. This is the basic mechanism controlling the verbosity of logging output.
Logging messages are encoded as instances of the LogRecord class. When a logger decides to actually log an event, an LogRecord instance is created from the logging message.
Logging messages are subjected to a dispatch mechanism through the use of handlers, which are instances of subclasses of the Handler class. Handlers are responsible for ensuring that a logged message (in the form of a LogRecord) ends up in a particular location (or set of locations) which is useful for the target audience for that message (such as end users, support desk staff, system administrators, developers). Handlers are passed LogRecord instances intended for particular destinations. Each logger can have zero, one or more handlers associated with it (via the addHandler() method of Logger). In addition to any handlers directly associated with a logger, all handlers associated with all ancestors of the logger are called to dispatch the message.
Just as for loggers, handlers can have levels associated with them. A handler's level acts as a filter in the same way as a logger's level does. If a handler decides to actually dispatch an event, the emit() method is used to send the message to its destination. Most user-defined subclasses of Handler will need to override this emit().
In addition to the base Handler class, many useful subclasses are provided:
The StreamHandler and FileHandler classes are defined in the core logging package. The other handlers are defined in a sub- module, logging.handlers. (There is also another sub-module, logging.config, for configuration functionality.)
Logged messages are formatted for presentation through instances of the Formatter class. They are initialized with a format string suitable for use with the % operator and a dictionary.
For formatting multiple messages in a batch, instances of BufferingFormatter can be used. In addition to the format string (which is applied to each message in the batch), there is provision for header and trailer format strings.
When filtering based on logger level and/or handler level is not enough, instances of Filter can be added to both Logger and Handler instances (through their addFilter() method). Before deciding to process a message further, both loggers and handlers consult all their filters for permission. If any filter returns a false value, the message is not processed further.
The basic Filter functionality allows filtering by specific logger name. If this feature is used, messages sent to the named logger and its children are allowed through the filter, and all others dropped.
In addition to the classes described above, there are a number of module- level functions.
[name]) |
All calls to this function with a given name return the same logger instance. This means that logger instances never need to be passed between different parts of an application.
) |
class MyLogger(logging.getLoggerClass()): # ... override behaviour here
msg[, *args[, **kwargs]]) |
msg[, *args[, **kwargs]]) |
msg[, *args[, **kwargs]]) |
msg[, *args[, **kwargs]]) |
msg[, *args[, **kwargs]]) |
msg[, *args]) |
level, msg[, *args[, **kwargs]]) |
lvl) |
lvl, levelName) |
lvl) |
attrdict) |
[**kwargs]) |
Changed in version 2.4: Formerly, basicConfig did not take any keyword arguments.
The following keyword arguments are supported.
Format | Description |
---|---|
filename |
Specifies that a FileHandler be created, using the specified filename, rather than a StreamHandler. |
filemode |
Specifies the mode to open the file, if filename is specified (if filemode is unspecified, it defaults to 'a'). |
format |
Use the specified format string for the handler. |
datefmt |
Use the specified date/time format. |
level |
Set the root logger level to the specified level. |
stream |
Use the specified stream to initialize the StreamHandler. Note that this argument is incompatible with 'filename' - if both are present, 'stream' is ignored. |
) |
klass) |
See Also: