Log to Console, File and SMTP With Logging Module

In this post I will show you how to use the logging module to log messages to console, file as well as send email using smtp, depending on the level of the message

Create a logger

First we will create a logger and set level to DEBUG

import logging
logger = logging.getLogger(__name__)
logger.setLevel(logging.DEBUG)

Create the handlers

Then we create and add to the logger a FileHandler, StreamHandler (console) and SMTPHandler. I will use for smtp my localhost, you have to replace the details with the details of your smtp server. The error.log should be in a place where you have write permissions.

formatter = logging.Formatter('%(asctime)s - %(name)s - %(levelname)s - %(message)s')

consoleHandler = logging.StreamHandler(sys.stdout)
consoleHandler.setLevel(logging.DEBUG)
consoleHandler.setFormatter(formatter)

fileHandler = logging.handlers.RotatingFileHandler(filename="error.log",maxBytes=1024000, backupCount=10, mode="a")
fileHandler.setLevel(logging.INFO)
fileHandler.setFormatter(formatter)

smtpHandler = logging.handlers.SMTPHandler(
              mailhost = "localhost",
              fromaddr = "alerts@localhost",
              toaddrs = "geo555@localhost",
              subject = "alert!"
            )
smtpHandler.setLevel(logging.CRITICAL)
smtpHandler.setFormatter(formatter)

add the handlers to the logger

logger.addHandler(consoleHandler)
logger.addHandler(fileHandler)
logger.addHandler(smtpHandler)

call the logger with different levels

Finally in our main function we call the logger with three different levels. Because Console handler is set at DEBUG will get all messages. File Handler is set to info, so it will get two messages and email handler will only get the critical message

def main():
    #this will be written only to console"
    logger.debug("this is a debug message")
    #this will be written to console and file
    logger.info("this is an info message")
    #this will go to email only
    logger.critical("Situation is critical. Come to office immediately.")

console output

2020-12-09 22:22:01,384 - __main__ - DEBUG - this is a debug message
2020-12-09 22:22:01,384 - __main__ - INFO - this is an info message
2020-12-09 22:22:01,384 - __main__ - CRITICAL - Situation is critical. Come to office immediately.

error.log

2020-12-09 22:22:01,384 - __main__ - INFO - this is an info message
2020-12-09 22:22:01,384 - __main__ - CRITICAL - Situation is critical. Come to office immediately.

Email

In another post, I will show you how to use a dictionary and a yaml file as ways to configure the logger as well as how to use logger with packages.