There comes a time in any programmer’s life when they write logging functions. Sometimes it’s little more than std::cout <<…, or sometimes it’s a full bore implementation along the lines of Boost.Log. Sometimes you want more than a print statement without the overhead of a Boost.Log implementation. What I’m about to list is that kind of logging function. It comes in just two files, a header and implementation, with a simple test file to try it out.

First, the code listings.

#ifndef IT_LOGGER_H#define IT_LOGGER_H#include <iostream>namespace IT{class Logger {public:enum Level {INFO,   // Everything.ERROR,  // An error in the code itself.FATAL   // What is caused by a runtime exception.};// Set Logger to an output stream. Default is std::cout.//explicit Logger(std::ostream &ostr);// Set the stream we want to log to. Default is std::cout.//static std::ostream &setStream(std::ostream *ostr = 0);// Set the reporting level. Default is INFO.//static void setLevel(const IT::Logger::Level = INFO);// The logging function. This is wrapped in the LOG macro below.//static void log(const Level, const std::string fileName, const int line, const std::string msg);};}// Generate a logger entry. Macros are evil, but this is a necessary evil.//#define LOG(level, string) \IT::Logger::log((IT::Logger::level), __FILE__, __LINE__, (string));#endif

it_logger.h

#include <cctype>#include <cstdlib>#include <ctime>#include <fstream>#include <sstream>#include <strings.h>#include "it_logger.h"// All the code in this anonymous namespace block is executed once and only once// during application startup. This is a "silent" new for Logging to make sure// it is properly configured and sane.//namespace{// Check to see where logging output will go. Default is standard out.//// If the user defines the environmental variable ITLOGFILE, then that// will be the logging output. The file will be opened relative to the// home directory of the user running the application. For example, if// the user, using bash, performs 'export ITLOGFILE=foo.txt', then runs// the application, all logging will go to $HOME/foo.txt.//// Failures to open are silent, and the default on failure is standard out.//std::ostream* checkLoggingOutput(void) {std::ostream *logout = &std::cout;std::stringstream logfilename;char *home = getenv("HOME");char *env = getenv("ITLOGFILE");if ((home != NULL) && (env != NULL)) {logfilename << home << "/" << env;std::ofstream *ofs =new std::ofstream(logfilename.str().c_str(), std::ofstream::out | std::ofstream::app);if (ofs != NULL && ofs->is_open()) {logout = ofs;}}return logout;}std::ostream *outPtr = checkLoggingOutput();// Check what logging level to use. Default is IT::Logger::ERROR.//// If the user defines the environmental variable ITLOGLEVEL, then that// will be the logging output. Levels are INFO, ERROR, and FATAL.// Logging level is set, using bash as an example,// by 'export ITLOGLEVEL=INFO' (if you want INFO level logging or higher).// The three levels are case insensitive (info is the same as INFO, etc).//// Failures due to misspellings are silent. Default level is ERROR.//const IT::Logger::Level checkLoggingLevel(void) {IT::Logger::Level level = IT::Logger::ERROR;char *env = getenv("ITLOGLEVEL");if (env != NULL) {if (strcasecmp(env, "INFO") == 0) {level = IT::Logger::INFO;}else if (strcasecmp(env, "ERROR") == 0) {level = IT::Logger::ERROR;}else if (strcasecmp(env, "FATAL") == 0) {level = IT::Logger::FATAL;}}return level;}IT::Logger::Level levelFilter = checkLoggingLevel();std::ostream &setStream(std::ostream *ostr) {outPtr = ostr != NULL ? ostr : &std::cout;return *ostr;}static const char* lname[] = {"-  - INFO  : ","!!!! ERROR : ","**** FATAL : "};const char* levelToString(const IT::Logger::Level level) {return (level >= 0 && level < sizeof(lname)) ? lname[level] : "UNKNOWN: ";}}// end anonymous namespaceIT::Logger::Logger(std::ostream &ostr) {setStream(&ostr);}std::ostream &IT::Logger::setStream(std::ostream *ostr) {return setStream(ostr);}void IT::Logger::setLevel(const IT::Logger::Level level) {::levelFilter = level;}// A LOG macro is wrapped around this specific function call.// The level is one of the three IT::Logger::Levels defined in the header.// The filename is the source file name in which this was invoked via the macro.// The line number is the source file line number, i.e. where you// would expect to find when you open up the source file in a text editor.// The message is the explicit message written with the macro.// Logging is timestamped with the system's current local time.void IT::Logger::log(const Level level,const std::string filename,const int line,const std::string message) {if (level >= ::levelFilter) {char atime[80];time_t rawtime = time(NULL);tm *curtime = localtime(&rawtime);strftime(atime, sizeof(atime), "%c %Z : ", curtime);*outPtr << levelToString(level) << atime;*outPtr << filename << " : " << line << " : " << message << std::endl;}}

it_logger.cpp

#include "it_logger.h"int main(int argv, char *argc[]) {std::cout << "Starting..." << std::endl;LOG(INFO, "Info logging.");LOG(ERROR, "Error logging.");LOG(FATAL, "Fatal logging.");IT::Logger::setLevel(IT::Logger::ERROR);std::cout << std::endl;LOG(INFO, "Info logging 2.");LOG(ERROR, "Error logging 2.");LOG(FATAL, "Fatal logging 2.");return 0;}

logtest.cpp

Usage

Include the header file in the source you want to add logging; see logtest above for examples on how to use it in code. See the notes in the code for details about the environmental variables ITLOGLEVEL and ITLOGFILE for simple tuning and controlling output. Compile and then use. I’ve tested this on RHEL 5 and Ubuntu 14.10, both with g++.