Friendly File Names for Log Files
Okay, I do a lot of logging when I am programming, in case something goes awry. Logs are especially pertinent for new or revised software and when a web page is associated with new software. Often, the logs are not used more than a quick scan. Generally, they are deleted later on.
When something does go haywire, though, the data in the log file may provide clues to what went wrong. They can be valuable time savers and may even be the difference between finding the bug now or only after implementing logs to help.
After opening log files many, many times simply to see what they contain or when they were made, I devised a naming scheme to help.
Including a date in the log file's name identifies when it was made. The file name can also contain clues to its content.
Dates can be the year, the year and month, or an entire date. Content clues generally refer to the script or web page that maintains the log.
As an example, the file name 202504-videomonitor.log tells me the log was made during year 2025 and month 4. It also tells me the log is being maintained by the video monitoring software I just made.
For file name sorting purposes, my log file dates are generally formatted as yyyymmdd, meaning 4-digit year, 2-digit month (if used), and 2-digit day (if used). 20250401 would be year 2025, month 4, and day 1 — April 1, 2025.
In the PHP coding section that updates the log file, the file name can be specified in these ways (dated with year, yearmonth, and yearmonthday):
$logfilename = date('Y').'-videomonitor.log';
$logfilename = date('Ym').'-videomonitor.log';
$logfilename = date('Ymd').'-videomonitor.log';
As you probably realized by looking at the above, a new file would be created whenever the file's name changes because of a date change.
That, too, can be helpful. When I'm fairly certain which month or day's information I'm looking for, I can eliminate some search by opening only the pertinent file.
(This content first appeared in Possibilities newsletter.)
Will Bontrager
