How to print out the method name and line number in swift
Here is an example of what I want to do:
func application(application: UIApplication, didFailToRegisterForRemoteNotificationsWithError error: NSError)
{
let nm = NetworkModel()
nm.sendlog("file name :AppDelegate , line number : 288", info: " Failed to register: \(error)")
}
current scenario i done that hard coded value line number
and file name
. but is it possible to programatically pick line number
and file name
.
Solution 1:
Literal Type Value
#file String The name of the file in which it appears.
#line Int The line number on which it appears.
#column Int The column number in which it begins.
#function String The name of the declaration in which it appears.
#dsohandle UnsafeMutablePointer The dso handle.
Example
print("Function: \(#function), line: \(#line)")
With default values in parameters you can also create a function
public func track(_ message: String, file: String = #file, function: String = #function, line: Int = #line ) {
print("\(message) called from \(function) \(file):\(line)")
}
which can be used like this
track("enters app")
In Swift 2.1
Literal Type Value
__FILE__ String The name of the file in which it appears.
__LINE__ Int The line number on which it appears.
__COLUMN__ Int The column number in which it begins.
__FUNCTION__ String The name of the declaration in which it appears.
for more info see the documentation
Solution 2:
You can use #function
, #file
, #line
Here is the implementation of log method in swift : https://github.com/InderKumarRathore/SwiftLog
Below is the snippet
public func debugLog(object: Any, functionName: String = #function, fileName: String = #file, lineNumber: Int = #line) {
#if DEBUG
let className = (fileName as NSString).lastPathComponent
print("<\(className)> \(functionName) [#\(lineNumber)]| \(object)\n")
#endif
}
Solution 3:
For swift 4 and swift 5:
func printLog(_ message: String, file: String = #file, function: String = #function, line: Int = #line) {
#if DEVELOPMENT
let className = file.components(separatedBy: "/").last
print(" ❌ Error ----> File: \(className ?? ""), Function: \(function), Line: \(line), Message: \(message)")
#endif
}
// "❌ Error ----> File: classNameViewController.swift, function: functionName(), Line: 123, Message: messageError"
Solution 4:
Example Logging Code (TL;DR)
import os.log
@available(OSX 11.0, iOS 14.0, *)
extension Logger {
private static var subsystem = Bundle.main.bundleIdentifier!
/// Logs the payment flows like Apple Pay.
@available(OSX 11.0, iOS 14.0, *)
static let payments = Logger(subsystem: subsystem, category: "payments")
}
static func DLog(message: StaticString, file: StaticString = #file, function: StaticString = #function, line: UInt = #line, column: UInt = #column, category: String, type: OSLogType = .info, bundle: Bundle = .main) {
// This method is only for iOS 14+
if #available(OSX 11.0, iOS 14.0, *) {
Logger.payments.debug("\(file) : \(function) : \(line) : \(column) - \(message, privacy: .private)")
// This makes the message unreadable without a debugger attached.
} else {
// Fallback on earlier versions
let customLog = OSLog(subsystem: bundle.bundleIdentifier!,
category: category)
// IMPORTANT: I have assumed here that you only print out non-sensitive data! Using %{private}@ or %{public}@ in an interpolated string is not portable to `Logger`!
os_log(message, log: customLog, type: type)
// Unfortunately this legacy API doesn't support non-StaticString logs. :(
}
}
Note that you may need to rework this code for more flexibility over private/public access levels - os_log
and Logger
don’t handle privacy levels in the same way. This is just to show how to use the API if you don’t add os_log
privacy levels in message
.
Apple recommend using OS Logging which is why I have used this approach rather than print
statements. I added this answer because of the new Logger
API in iOS 14 that also enables string interpolation.
Motivation
I think the answers here solve the question for < iOS 14, but they can be improved further for memory efficiency since this Debug Logging function will likely be used all across a codebase in iOS 14+ (new Logger
API). Apple recommend using OS Logging which is why I have used this approach rather than print
statements (although these will still work).
These are minor improvements but I think they can help because even minor improvements add up. In fact, the Swift Standard Library uses these optimizations everywhere they can)! These optimisations are contributing factors to the incredible memory efficiency of Swift despite being a high-level language (and part of great API Design!). (-:
Because this function would probably fit well as part of a generalized (OS) Logging service, I have also included considerations I make when logging within apps. I think these could help you when logging for debugging purposes (I answered this question because it was probably for debug logging!).
Improvements
- I prefer to use
UInt
in certain situations if I know theInt
is going to be positive, and any edge case crashes are unlikely. Note, I don't useUInt
when interfacing withFoundation
classes that useInt
types for this reason. This allocates less memory at runtime and I find being more specific also helps me understand the code better. - I prefer to use
StaticString
where I know the string is known at compile-time. From the docs,StaticString
only provides low-level access toString
contents and is immutable. Thus only use it where appropriate. Even concatenated String literals cannot be used to initialize aStaticString
. Because its functionality is more restricted thanString
this means that it is lightweight - only requiring an address pointer and length under the hood. UsingStaticString
also provides a small performance boost with OS-level memory management because it is neither allocated nor deallocated (no need for reference counting). - Using Apple's recommended
Logger
API for logging is better than print statements for multiple reasons: performance, privacy and unified management. It can be better for debugging issues in released products (OS Logs provide more context).
I would recommend using StaticString
where you can, for example with the function and file names, and UInt
for the line and column numbers. This is only now possible with the Logger
iOS 14+ API.
(Bonus) Logging Considerations
Should I do LOTS of logging?
I think logging is a balancing act. Lots of logging can be very helpful to debug issues when viewing crash reports if you have access to these. However, you need to balance Privacy, Size of the Compiled Binary and Overwhelming the Logging System.
1. Privacy: Redact sensitive info using "\(message, privacy: .private)"
and "\(message, privacy: .public)"
with Logger
, and DON'T print sensitive information when using NSLog
or print
statements. I would recommend replacing print
statements (for production) with OS Logs when they are for debugging purposes. Or use a preprocessor directive (#if DEBUG
) inside the logging service to print
only on a Debug
scheme..
2. Size of the Compiled Binary: Logging statements are essentially more lines of code. The more code you add, the bigger your binary. This is usually not an issue, as long as you don't log everything under the sun since only a large increase in this metric would affect the binary size.
3. Overwhelming the logging system: If you log excessively, the device may have to discard some logs in order to keep running (limited RAM or swap space at runtime due to OS multitasking - worse for older devices). Apple is usually reliable in handling lots of user logging, and it's hard to achieve this in practice. Nevertheless, if you do encounter this, some more useful log events could be pushed out of the window.
OS Logs
The most important thing to get right is the log level. By default on iOS log entries at .info
and below will be suppressed at the point of log generation, so the only real negative with those is the binary size. If you log at .log
(.default
for os_log) or higher, you need to be careful about not logging too much. Apple's general advice is that you look at each of these higher-level log entries to make sure they contain info that might be useful while debugging.
Finally, make sure to set the subsystem and category. The unified logging system processes a lot of log entries - the subsystem with category makes it much easier for you to focus on specific problems.
How to choose the category and subsystem?
This is a pretty opinionated topic, so I will focus on what I would think about when deciding. YMMV: there may be better options and if so, please let me know.
1. By feature (product-specific): For example, if you are a shopping app, maybe organise the subsystem
by the payment
, login
or other app flows. If you aren't already using a modular codebase for organisation into features (or frameworks for shared code) then I can recommend this tutorial series.
2. By technology: What I mean by this is the domain of the code, is it for Push Notifications, Deep Links, User Defaults (or persistence) logic. This could be helpful for the category
parameter.
3. By target: I like to also use the bundleIdentifier
of the current Bundle
if I can for the subsystem
. This makes even more sense if you have Extension Targets (Push Notifications), multiple Targets, or different Platforms (like WatchOS, SiriKit extensions and similar). You can get the current bundle, using this code:
let myBundle = Bundle(for: MyClass.self)
Debugging user issues using OS device logs
See here for a detailed walkthrough (Access Device Console Logs
). The main idea is to connect the device to your Mac (or use the Mac itself for Mac apps ;)), open Console.app
, run the app and try to reproduce the crash. If you manage to get that far in the first place, then you can correlate the time of the crash with the logs for more context.
Any other reasons for logging less?
If you are an Apple Early-Adopter then you know how buggy some of the iOS Betas can be ;). When posting bug reports to Apple, the OS Logs get included in sysdiagnose
files, so you may get a faster turnaround time because your bug reports have less noise.
Should I use a third-party logging service?
Depends if you can afford it and whether you really need it. I prefer to minimise the number of third-party dependencies I import in my code (if I can control this) and the native (Apple) Logging APIs worked fine for most of my use cases. These services charge extra per month, but the advantage is the user cannot view the logs (even if he wants to) by hooking his device up to Console.app
on his Mac. Note that this is NOT an issue if you apply the .private
log levels, so I don't usually use third-party services (YMMV). A potential reason to go for web-logging is more security against reverse-engineering though, as long as you trust the third-party vendor against data breaches (BUT also it's not as eco-friendly ;)).