cedarlog

Log file generator for Python

Overview

A Python module that contains a single function to generate a log file for capturing print output from a main Python program.

Essentially the function works as follows:

Opening the Log File

• First it grabs the system date / time.
• Then it generates a log file name by prefixing the date / time to a user-defined log file title.
• It then redirects the Python standard ouput to the generated log file.

Closing the Log File

• The function closes the log file and reverts the Python standard ouput back to default.
• It then reads back the saved log file and prints it to the default standard ouput.

Calling the Function

As an example, place the following lines in your main program.

First load the module:

# Local imports
import cedarlog

Then set the variables for your desired log file title and folder location:

log_file_title = 'Log_File_Example_Title' # Sys date and time will be prefixed
log_file_location = "log_files" # Relative path

In your main() code:

def main (your_param1, your_param2, etc, log_file_title, log_file_location):

    # Open log file and store the returned log file parameters (returned as a tuple)

    log_file_params=cedarlog.use_log_file(switch='open',
          title=log_file_title, location=log_file_location)

    ...

    <Your main code here>

    ...

    # Close log file. Grab values for log_file_name
    # and stdout_fileno from the log_file_params tuple

    log = log_file_params # Apply short name
    cedarlog.use_log_file(switch='close',
          log_file_name=log[0], stdout_fileno=log[1], location=log[2])

    return

Call your main() code:

if __name__ == "__main__":

    main (your_param1, your_param2, etc, log_file_title, log_file_location)

Log File Location

Note that you will need to manually create a folder for the log files relative to your main Python code.

For example:

/my_python_code_folder
      -  /log_files
      -  my_main_prog.py
      -  cedarlog.py
        ...

Reference Code

Some of the code used was inspired by this article:

Ask Python - Print to File

Questions and Comments

More than happy to respond to questions and comments. Plese feel free to drop me a line.

License

Copyright 2022 Cedarwood Insights Limited.

Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0: https://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0