NAME

logger — make entries in the system log

SYNOPSIS

DESCRIPTION

The logger utility provides a shell command interface to the syslog(3) system log module.

The following options are available:

-4

Force logger to use IPv4 addresses only.

-6

Force logger to use IPv6 addresses only.

-A

By default, logger tries to send the message to only one address, even if the host has more than one A or AAAA record. If this option is specified, logger tries to send the message to all addresses.

-i

Log the process id of the logger process with each line. This flag is ignored and the process id is always logged. See also -t.

-s

Log the message to standard error, as well as the system log.

-f file

Read the contents of the specified file into syslog. This option is ignored when a message is also specified.

-H hostname

Set the hostname in the header of the message to specified value. If not specified, host part of gethostname(3) will be used.

-h host

Send the message to the remote system host instead of logging it locally. Note that logger currently supports AF_INET (IPv4), AF_INET6 (IPv6), and AF_LOCAL (Unix-domain socket) address families. The following address formats are valid in host:

AF_INET

192.168.2.1

AF_INET6

2001:db8::1

AF_LOCAL

/var/run/log

-P port

Send the message to the specified port number on a remote system, which can be specified as a service name or as a decimal number. The default is “syslog”. If an unknown service name is used, logger prints a warning and falls back to port 514.

-p pri

Enter the message with the specified priority. The priority may be specified numerically or as a facility.level pair. For example, “-p local3.info” logs the message(s) as informational level in the local3 facility. The default is “user.notice”.

-S addr:port

Specify source address and/or source port when using -h option. The same address will be used for all of the remote addresses when -A flag is enabled. Note that a numeric IPv6 address in addr must be enclosed with “[” and “]”.

-t tag

Mark every line in the log with the specified tag rather than the default of current login name. Use -t tag[N] to insert specific decimal process id instead of id of logger.

message

Write the message to log; if not specified, and the -f flag is not provided, standard input is logged.

EXIT STATUS

The logger utility exits 0 on success, and >0 if an error occurs.

EXAMPLES

logger System rebooted

logger -p local0.notice -t HOSTIDM -f /dev/idmc

SEE ALSO

syslog(3), syslogd(8)

STANDARDS

The logger command is expected to be IEEE Std 1003.2 (“POSIX.2”) compatible.