How do I get java logging output to appear on a single line?

At the moment a default entry looks something like this:

Oct 12, 2008 9:45:18 AM myClassInfoHere
INFO: MyLogMessageHere

How do I get it to do this?

Oct 12, 2008 9:45:18 AM myClassInfoHere - INFO: MyLogMessageHere

Clarification I'm using java.util.logging

Solution 1:

As of Java 7, java.util.logging.SimpleFormatter supports getting its format from a system property, so adding something like this to the JVM command line will cause it to print on one line:

-Djava.util.logging.SimpleFormatter.format='%1$tY-%1$tm-%1$td %1$tH:%1$tM:%1$tS %4$s %2$s %5$s%6$s%n'

Alternatively, you can also add this to your logger.properties:

java.util.logging.SimpleFormatter.format='%1$tY-%1$tm-%1$td %1$tH:%1$tM:%1$tS %4$s %2$s %5$s%6$s%n'

Solution 2:

1) -Djava.util.logging.SimpleFormatter.format

Java 7 supports a property with the java.util.Formatter format string syntax.

-Djava.util.logging.SimpleFormatter.format=... 

See here.

My favorite is:

-Djava.util.logging.SimpleFormatter.format=%1$tY-%1$tm-%1$td %1$tH:%1$tM:%1$tS %4$-6s %2$s %5$s%6$s%n

which makes output like:

2014-09-02 16:44:57 SEVERE org.jboss.windup.util.ZipUtil unzip: Failed to load: foo.zip

2) Putting it to IDEs

IDEs typically let you set system properties for a project. E.g. in NetBeans, instead of adding -D...=... somewhere, add the property in the action dialog, in a form of java.util.logging.SimpleFormatter.format=%1$tY-%1$tm-... - without any quotes. The IDE should figure out.

3) Putting that to Maven - Surefire

For your convenience, Here is how to put it to Surefire:

<!-- Surefire -->
<plugin>
    <groupId>org.apache.maven.plugins</groupId>
    <artifactId>maven-surefire-plugin</artifactId>
    <version>2.17</version>
    <configuration>
        <systemPropertyVariables>
            <!-- Set JUL Formatting -->
            <java.util.logging.SimpleFormatter.format>%1$tY-%1$tm-%1$td %1$tH:%1$tM:%1$tS %4$-6s %2$s %5$s%6$s%n</java.util.logging.SimpleFormatter.format>
        </systemPropertyVariables>
    </configuration>
</plugin>

4) Hand-made

I have a library with few java.util.logging related classes. Amongst them, it's SingleLineFormatter. Downloadable jar here.

public class SingleLineFormatter extends Formatter {

  Date dat = new Date();
  private final static String format = "{0,date} {0,time}";
  private MessageFormat formatter;
  private Object args[] = new Object[1];

  // Line separator string.  This is the value of the line.separator
  // property at the moment that the SimpleFormatter was created.
  //private String lineSeparator = (String) java.security.AccessController.doPrivileged(
  //        new sun.security.action.GetPropertyAction("line.separator"));
  private String lineSeparator = "\n";

  /**
   * Format the given LogRecord.
   * @param record the log record to be formatted.
   * @return a formatted log record
   */
  public synchronized String format(LogRecord record) {

    StringBuilder sb = new StringBuilder();

    // Minimize memory allocations here.
    dat.setTime(record.getMillis());    
    args[0] = dat;


    // Date and time 
    StringBuffer text = new StringBuffer();
    if (formatter == null) {
      formatter = new MessageFormat(format);
    }
    formatter.format(args, text, null);
    sb.append(text);
    sb.append(" ");


    // Class name 
    if (record.getSourceClassName() != null) {
      sb.append(record.getSourceClassName());
    } else {
      sb.append(record.getLoggerName());
    }

    // Method name 
    if (record.getSourceMethodName() != null) {
      sb.append(" ");
      sb.append(record.getSourceMethodName());
    }
    sb.append(" - "); // lineSeparator



    String message = formatMessage(record);

    // Level
    sb.append(record.getLevel().getLocalizedName());
    sb.append(": ");

    // Indent - the more serious, the more indented.
    //sb.append( String.format("% ""s") );
    int iOffset = (1000 - record.getLevel().intValue()) / 100;
    for( int i = 0; i < iOffset;  i++ ){
      sb.append(" ");
    }


    sb.append(message);
    sb.append(lineSeparator);
    if (record.getThrown() != null) {
      try {
        StringWriter sw = new StringWriter();
        PrintWriter pw = new PrintWriter(sw);
        record.getThrown().printStackTrace(pw);
        pw.close();
        sb.append(sw.toString());
      } catch (Exception ex) {
      }
    }
    return sb.toString();
  }
}