NAME¶

logger - a shell command interface to the syslog(3) system log module

SYNOPSIS¶

logger [options] [message]

DESCRIPTION¶

logger makes entries in the system log. It provides a shell command interface to the syslog(3) system log module.

OPTIONS¶

-n, --server server

Write to the specified remote syslog server instead of to the builtin syslog routines. Unless --udp or --tcp is specified the logger will first try to use UDP, but if it fails a TCP connection is attempted.

-d, --udp

Use datagram (UDP) only. By default the connection is tried to syslog port defined in /etc/services, which is often 514.

-T, --tcp

Use stream (TCP) only. By default the connection is tried to syslog-conn port defined in /etc/services, which is often 601.

-P, --port port

Use the specified port. When this option is not specified, the port defaults to syslog for udp and to syslog-conn for tcp connections.

-i, --id

Log the process ID of the logger process with each line.

-f, --file file

Log the contents of the specified file. This option cannot be combined with a command-line message.

-h, --help

Display a help text and exit.

-p, --priority priority

Enter the message into the log with the specified priority. The priority may be specified numerically or as a facility.level pair. For example, -p local3.info logs the message as informational in the local3 facility. The default is user.notice.

-S, --size size

Sets the maximum permitted message size. The default is 1KiB, which is the limit traditionally used and specified in RFC 3164. When selecting a maximum message size, it is important to ensure that the receiver supports the max size as well, otherwise messages may become truncated.

-s, --stderr

Output the message to standard error as well as to the system log.

-t, --tag tag

Mark every line to be logged with the specified tag. The default tag is the name of the user logged in on the terminal (or a user name based on effective user ID).

-u, --socket socket

Write to the specified socket instead of to the builtin syslog routines.

-V, --version

Display version information and exit.

--

End the argument list. This is to allow the message to start with a hyphen (-).

message

Write the message to log; if not specified, and the -f flag is not provided, standard input is logged.

The logger utility exits 0 on success, and >0 if an error occurs.

FACILITIES AND LEVELS¶

Valid facility names are:

auth
authpriv	for security information of a sensitive nature
cron
daemon
ftp
kern	cannot be generated from userspace process, automatically converted to user
lpr
mail
news
syslog
user
uucp
local0
to
local7
security	deprecated synonym for auth

Valid level names are:

emerg
alert
crit
err
warning
notice
info
debug
panic	deprecated synonym for emerg
error	deprecated synonym for err
warn	deprecated synonym for warning

For the priority order and intended purposes of these facilities and levels, see syslog(3).

EXAMPLES¶

logger System rebooted
logger -p local0.notice -t HOSTIDM -f /dev/idmc
logger -n loghost.example.com System rebooted

SEE ALSO¶

syslog(3), syslogd(8)

STANDARDS¶

The logger command is expected to be IEEE Std 1003.2 ("POSIX.2") compatible.

AVAILABILITY¶

The logger command is part of the util-linux package and is available from Linux Kernel Archive.