How to print out the method name and line number and conditionally disable NSLog?

Here are some useful macros around NSLog I use a lot:

#ifdef DEBUG
#   define DLog(fmt, ...) NSLog((@"%s [Line %d] " fmt), __PRETTY_FUNCTION__, __LINE__, ##__VA_ARGS__)
#else
#   define DLog(...)
#endif

// ALog always displays output regardless of the DEBUG setting
#define ALog(fmt, ...) NSLog((@"%s [Line %d] " fmt), __PRETTY_FUNCTION__, __LINE__, ##__VA_ARGS__)

The DLog macro is used to only output when the DEBUG variable is set (-DDEBUG in the projects's C flags for the debug confirguration).

ALog will always output text (like the regular NSLog).

The output (e.g. ALog(@"Hello world") ) will look like this:

-[LibraryController awakeFromNib] [Line 364] Hello world

I've taken DLog and ALog from above, and added ULog which raises a UIAlertView message.

To summarize:

  • DLog will output like NSLog only when the DEBUG variable is set
  • ALog will always output like NSLog
  • ULog will show the UIAlertView only when the DEBUG variable is set
#ifdef DEBUG
#   define DLog(fmt, ...) NSLog((@"%s [Line %d] " fmt), __PRETTY_FUNCTION__, __LINE__, ##__VA_ARGS__);
#else
#   define DLog(...)
#endif
#define ALog(fmt, ...) NSLog((@"%s [Line %d] " fmt), __PRETTY_FUNCTION__, __LINE__, ##__VA_ARGS__);
#ifdef DEBUG
#   define ULog(fmt, ...)  { UIAlertView *alert = [[UIAlertView alloc] initWithTitle:[NSString stringWithFormat:@"%s\n [Line %d] ", __PRETTY_FUNCTION__, __LINE__] message:[NSString stringWithFormat:fmt, ##__VA_ARGS__]  delegate:nil cancelButtonTitle:@"Ok" otherButtonTitles:nil]; [alert show]; }
#else
#   define ULog(...)
#endif

This is what it looks like:

Debug UIAlertView

+1 Diederik


NSLog(@"%s %d %s %s", __FILE__, __LINE__, __PRETTY_FUNCTION__, __FUNCTION__);

Outputs file name, line number, and function name:

/proj/cocoa/cdcli/cdcli.m 121 managedObjectContext managedObjectContext

__FUNCTION__ in C++ shows mangled name __PRETTY_FUNCTION__ shows nice function name, in cocoa they look the same.

I'm not sure what is the proper way of disabling NSLog, I did:

#define NSLog

And no logging output showed up, however I don't know if this has any side effects.


Here one big collection of debug constants that we use. Enjoy.

// Uncomment the defitions to show additional info.

//  #define DEBUG

//  #define DEBUGWHERE_SHOWFULLINFO

//  #define DEBUG_SHOWLINES
//  #define DEBUG_SHOWFULLPATH
//  #define DEBUG_SHOWSEPARATORS
//  #define DEBUG_SHOWFULLINFO


// Definition of DEBUG functions. Only work if DEBUG is defined.
#ifdef DEBUG 

    #define debug_separator() NSLog( @"────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────" );

    #ifdef DEBUG_SHOWSEPARATORS
        #define debug_showSeparators() debug_separator();
    #else
        #define debug_showSeparators()
    #endif

    /// /// /// ////// ///// 

    #ifdef DEBUG_SHOWFULLPATH
        #define debug_whereFull() debug_showSeparators(); NSLog(@"Line:%d : %s : %s", __LINE__,__FILE__,__FUNCTION__); debug_showSeparators(); 
    #else
        #define debug_whereFull() debug_showSeparators(); NSLog(@"Line:%d : %s : %s", __LINE__,[ [ [ [NSString alloc] initWithBytes:__FILE__ length:strlen(__FILE__) encoding:NSUTF8StringEncoding] lastPathComponent] UTF8String ] ,__FUNCTION__); debug_showSeparators(); 
    #endif

    /// /// /// ////// ///// 

    #define debugExt(args,...) debug_separator(); debug_whereFull(); NSLog( args, ##__VA_ARGS__); debug_separator();

    /// /// /// ////// ///// Debug Print Macros

    #ifdef DEBUG_SHOWFULLINFO
        #define debug(args,...) debugExt(args, ##__VA_ARGS__);
    #else
        #ifdef DEBUG_SHOWLINES
            #define debug(args,...) debug_showSeparators(); NSLog([ NSString stringWithFormat:@"Line:%d : %@", __LINE__, args ], ##__VA_ARGS__); debug_showSeparators();
        #else
            #define debug(args,...) debug_showSeparators(); NSLog(args, ##__VA_ARGS__); debug_showSeparators();
        #endif
    #endif

    /// /// /// ////// ///// Debug Specific Types

    #define debug_object( arg ) debug( @"Object: %@", arg );
    #define debug_int( arg ) debug( @"integer: %i", arg );
    #define debug_float( arg ) debug( @"float: %f", arg );
    #define debug_rect( arg ) debug( @"CGRect ( %f, %f, %f, %f)", arg.origin.x, arg.origin.y, arg.size.width, arg.size.height );
    #define debug_point( arg ) debug( @"CGPoint ( %f, %f )", arg.x, arg.y );
    #define debug_bool( arg )   debug( @"Boolean: %@", ( arg == YES ? @"YES" : @"NO" ) );

    /// /// /// ////// ///// Debug Where Macros

    #ifdef DEBUGWHERE_SHOWFULLINFO
        #define debug_where() debug_whereFull(); 
    #else
        #define debug_where() debug(@"%s",__FUNCTION__); 
    #endif

    #define debug_where_separators() debug_separator(); debug_where(); debug_separator();

    /// /// /// ////// /////

#else
    #define debug(args,...) 
    #define debug_separator()  
    #define debug_where()   
    #define debug_where_separators()  
    #define debug_whereFull()   
    #define debugExt(args,...)
    #define debug_object( arg ) 
    #define debug_int( arg ) 
    #define debug_rect( arg )   
    #define debug_bool( arg )   
    #define debug_point( arg )
    #define debug_float( arg )
#endif