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Overview

Laminas\Log\Logger is a component for general purpose logging. It supports multiple log backends, formatting messages sent to the log, and filtering messages from being logged. These functions are divided into the following objects:

  • A logger (instance of Laminas\Log\Logger) is the object that your application uses the most. You can have as many logger objects as you like; they do not interact. A logger object must contain at least one writer, and can optionally contain one or more filters.
  • A writer (inherits from Laminas\Log\Writer\AbstractWriter) writes data to an underlying storage implementation.
  • A filter (implements Laminas\Log\Filter\FilterInterface) filters (blocks) log data from being saved. A filter is applied to an individual writer. Filters can be chained.
  • A formatter (implements Laminas\Log\Formatter\FormatterInterface) formats the log data before it is written by a writer. Each writer has exactly one formatter.
  • A processor (implements Laminas\Log\Processor\ProcessorInterface) processes the log event prior to filtering or writing, allowing the ability to substitute, add, remove, or modify data to be logged.

Creating a Log

To get started logging, instantiate a writer and then pass it to a logger instance:

$logger = new Laminas\Log\Logger;
$writer = new Laminas\Log\Writer\Stream('php://output');

$logger->addWriter($writer);

It is important to note that the logger must have at least one writer. You can add any number of writers using the logger's addWriter() method.

You can also add a priority to each writer. The priority is specified as an integer and passed as the second argument in the addWriter() method.

Another way to add a writer to a logger is to use the name of the writer as follow:

$logger = new Laminas\Log\Logger;

$logger->addWriter('stream', null, ['stream' => 'php://output']);

In this example we passed the stream php://output as a parameter (via an options array).

Logging Messages

To log a message, call the log() method of a Logger instance and pass it the message priority and the message:

$logger->log(Laminas\Log\Logger::INFO, 'Informational message');

The first parameter of the log() method is the integer priority and the second parameter is the string message. The priority must be one of the priorities recognized by the Logger instance (explained in the next section). There is also an optional third parameter used to pass extra information/metadata to the writer.

Instead of using the log() method, you can optionally call methods named after the various supported priorities, which allows you to omit the priority argument:

$logger->log(Laminas\Log\Logger::INFO, 'Informational message');
$logger->info('Informational message');

$logger->log(Laminas\Log\Logger::EMERG, 'Emergency message');
$logger->emerg('Emergency message');

Destroying a Log

If the Logger instance is no longer needed, set the variable containing it to NULL to destroy it. This will automatically call the shutdown() instance method of each attached writer before the Logger instance is destroyed.

$logger = null;

Explicitly destroying the log in this way is optional and is performed automatically at PHP shutdown.

Using Built-in Priorities

The Laminas\Log\Logger class defines the following priorities:

EMERG   = 0;  // Emergency: system is unusable
ALERT   = 1;  // Alert: action must be taken immediately
CRIT    = 2;  // Critical: critical conditions
ERR     = 3;  // Error: error conditions
WARN    = 4;  // Warning: warning conditions
NOTICE  = 5;  // Notice: normal but significant condition
INFO    = 6;  // Informational: informational messages
DEBUG   = 7;  // Debug: debug messages

These priorities are always available, and a convenience method of the same name (but lowercased) is available for each one.

The priorities are not arbitrary. They come from the BSD syslog protocol, which is described in RFC-3164. The names and corresponding priority numbers are also compatible with another PHP logging system, PEAR Log, which perhaps promotes interoperability between it and Laminas\Log\Logger; PSR-3 uses similar semantics, but without the explicit priority integers.

Priority numbers descend in order of importance. EMERG (0) is the most important priority. DEBUG (7) is the least important priority of the built-in priorities. You may define priorities of lower importance than DEBUG. When selecting the priority for your log message, be aware of this priority hierarchy and choose appropriately.

Understanding Log Events

When you call the log() method or one of its shortcuts, a log event is created. This is simply an associative array with data describing the event that is passed to the writers. The following keys are always created in this array:

  • timestamp
  • message
  • priority
  • priorityName

The creation of the event array is an internal detail of implementation.

Log PHP Errors

Laminas\Log\Logger can also be used to log PHP errors and intercept exceptions. Calling the static method registerErrorHandler($logger) will register the $logger instance to log errors; it returns a boolean false ensuring that it returns delegation to any other error handlers registered, including the default PHP error handler.

$logger = new Laminas\Log\Logger;
$writer = new Laminas\Log\Writer\Stream('php://output');

$logger->addWriter($writer);

Laminas\Log\Logger::registerErrorHandler($logger);

If you want to unregister the error handler, can use the unregisterErrorHandler() static method.

You can also configure a logger to intercept exceptions using the static method registerExceptionHandler($logger).