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How to use Monolog to write Logs

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How to use Monolog to write Logs

Monolog is a logging library for PHP 5.3 used by Symfony2. It is inspired by the Python LogBook library.

Usage

To log a message simply get the logger service from the container in your controller:

public function indexAction()
{
    $logger = $this->get('logger');
    $logger->info('I just got the logger');
    $logger->error('An error occurred');

    // ...
}

The logger service has different methods for different logging levels. See Symfony\Component\HttpKernel\Log\LoggerInterface for details on which methods are available.

Handlers and Channels: Writing logs to different Locations

In Monolog each logger defines a logging channel, which organizes your log messages into different “categories”. Then, each channel has a stack of handlers to write the logs (the handlers can be shared).

Tip

When injecting the logger in a service you can use a custom channel control which “channel” the logger will log to.

The basic handler is the StreamHandler which writes logs in a stream (by default in the app/logs/prod.log in the prod environment and app/logs/dev.log in the dev environment).

Monolog comes also with a powerful built-in handler for the logging in prod environment: FingersCrossedHandler. It allows you to store the messages in a buffer and to log them only if a message reaches the action level (error in the configuration provided in the Standard Edition) by forwarding the messages to another handler.

Using several handlers

The logger uses a stack of handlers which are called successively. This allows you to log the messages in several ways easily.

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    # app/config/config.yml
monolog:
    handlers:
        applog:
            type: stream
            path: /var/log/symfony.log
            level: error
        main:
            type: fingers_crossed
            action_level: warning
            handler: file
        file:
            type: stream
            level: debug
        syslog:
            type: syslog
            level: error
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    <!-- app/config/config.xml -->
<container xmlns="http://symfony.com/schema/dic/services"
    xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"
    xmlns:monolog="http://symfony.com/schema/dic/monolog"
    xsi:schemaLocation="http://symfony.com/schema/dic/services http://symfony.com/schema/dic/services/services-1.0.xsd
                        http://symfony.com/schema/dic/monolog http://symfony.com/schema/dic/monolog/monolog-1.0.xsd">

    <monolog:config>
        <monolog:handler
            name="applog"
            type="stream"
            path="/var/log/symfony.log"
            level="error"
        />
        <monolog:handler
            name="main"
            type="fingers_crossed"
            action-level="warning"
            handler="file"
        />
        <monolog:handler
            name="file"
            type="stream"
            level="debug"
        />
        <monolog:handler
            name="syslog"
            type="syslog"
            level="error"
        />
    </monolog:config>
</container>
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    // app/config/config.php
$container->loadFromExtension('monolog', array(
    'handlers' => array(
        'applog' => array(
            'type'  => 'stream',
            'path'  => '/var/log/symfony.log',
            'level' => 'error',
        ),
        'main' => array(
            'type'         => 'fingers_crossed',
            'action_level' => 'warning',
            'handler'      => 'file',
        ),
        'file' => array(
            'type'  => 'stream',
            'level' => 'debug',
        ),
        'syslog' => array(
            'type'  => 'syslog',
            'level' => 'error',
        ),
    ),
));

The above configuration defines a stack of handlers which will be called in the order where they are defined.

Tip

The handler named “file” will not be included in the stack itself as it is used as a nested handler of the fingers_crossed handler.

Note

If you want to change the config of MonologBundle in another config file you need to redefine the whole stack. It cannot be merged because the order matters and a merge does not allow to control the order.

Changing the formatter

The handler uses a Formatter to format the record before logging it. All Monolog handlers use an instance of Monolog\Formatter\LineFormatter by default but you can replace it easily. Your formatter must implement Monolog\Formatter\FormatterInterface.

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    # app/config/config.yml
services:
    my_formatter:
        class: Monolog\Formatter\JsonFormatter
monolog:
    handlers:
        file:
            type: stream
            level: debug
            formatter: my_formatter
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    <!-- app/config/config.xml -->
<container xmlns="http://symfony.com/schema/dic/services"
    xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"
    xmlns:monolog="http://symfony.com/schema/dic/monolog"
    xsi:schemaLocation="http://symfony.com/schema/dic/services http://symfony.com/schema/dic/services/services-1.0.xsd
                        http://symfony.com/schema/dic/monolog http://symfony.com/schema/dic/monolog/monolog-1.0.xsd">

    <services>
        <service id="my_formatter" class="Monolog\Formatter\JsonFormatter" />
    </services>

    <monolog:config>
        <monolog:handler
            name="file"
            type="stream"
            level="debug"
            formatter="my_formatter"
        />
    </monolog:config>
</container>
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    // app/config/config.php
$container
    ->register('my_formatter', 'Monolog\Formatter\JsonFormatter');

$container->loadFromExtension('monolog', array(
    'handlers' => array(
        'file' => array(
            'type'      => 'stream',
            'level'     => 'debug',
            'formatter' => 'my_formatter',
        ),
    ),
));

Adding some extra data in the log messages

Monolog allows to process the record before logging it to add some extra data. A processor can be applied for the whole handler stack or only for a specific handler.

A processor is simply a callable receiving the record as its first argument.

Processors are configured using the monolog.processor DIC tag. See the reference about it.

Adding a Session/Request Token

Sometimes it is hard to tell which entries in the log belong to which session and/or request. The following example will add a unique token for each request using a processor.

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namespace Acme\MyBundle;

use Symfony\Component\HttpFoundation\Session\Session;

class SessionRequestProcessor
{
    private $session;
    private $token;

    public function __construct(Session $session)
    {
        $this->session = $session;
    }

    public function processRecord(array $record)
    {
        if (null === $this->token) {
            try {
                $this->token = substr($this->session->getId(), 0, 8);
            } catch (\RuntimeException $e) {
                $this->token = '????????';
            }
            $this->token .= '-' . substr(uniqid(), -8);
        }
        $record['extra']['token'] = $this->token;

        return $record;
    }
}
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    # app/config/config.yml
services:
    monolog.formatter.session_request:
        class: Monolog\Formatter\LineFormatter
        arguments:
            - "[%%datetime%%] [%%extra.token%%] %%channel%%.%%level_name%%: %%message%%\n"

    monolog.processor.session_request:
        class: Acme\MyBundle\SessionRequestProcessor
        arguments:  ["@session"]
        tags:
            - { name: monolog.processor, method: processRecord }

monolog:
    handlers:
        main:
            type: stream
            path: "%kernel.logs_dir%/%kernel.environment%.log"
            level: debug
            formatter: monolog.formatter.session_request
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    <container xmlns="http://symfony.com/schema/dic/services"
    xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"
    xmlns:monolog="http://symfony.com/schema/dic/monolog"
    xsi:schemaLocation="http://symfony.com/schema/dic/services http://symfony.com/schema/dic/services/services-1.0.xsd
                        http://symfony.com/schema/dic/monolog http://symfony.com/schema/dic/monolog/monolog-1.0.xsd">

    <services>
        <service id="monolog.formatter.session_request" class="Monolog\Formatter\LineFormatter">
            <argument>[%%datetime%%] [%%extra.token%%] %%channel%%.%%level_name%%: %%message%%&#xA;</argument>
        </service>

        <service id="monolog.processor.session_request" class="Acme\MyBundle\SessionRequestProcessor">
            <argument type="service" id="session" />
            <tag name="monolog.processor" method="processRecord" />
        </service>
    </services>

    <monolog:config>
        <monolog:handler
            name="main"
            type="stream"
            path="%kernel.logs_dir%/%kernel.environment%.log"
            level="debug"
            formatter="monolog.formatter.session_request"
        />
    </monolog:config>
</container>
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    // app/config/config.php
$container
    ->register('monolog.formatter.session_request', 'Monolog\Formatter\LineFormatter')
    ->addArgument('[%%datetime%%] [%%extra.token%%] %%channel%%.%%level_name%%: %%message%%\n');

$container
    ->register('monolog.processor.session_request', 'Acme\MyBundle\SessionRequestProcessor')
    ->addArgument(new Reference('session'))
    ->addTag('monolog.processor', array('method' => 'processRecord'));

$container->loadFromExtension('monolog', array(
    'handlers' => array(
        'main' => array(
            'type'      => 'stream',
            'path'      => '%kernel.logs_dir%/%kernel.environment%.log',
            'level'     => 'debug',
            'formatter' => 'monolog.formatter.session_request',
        ),
    ),
));

Note

If you use several handlers, you can also register the processor at the handler level instead of globally.

This work, including the code samples, is licensed under a Creative Commons BY-SA 3.0 license.