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What is the hierarchy of log4j logging?

DEBUG
INFO
WARN
ERROR
FATAL

Which one provides the highest logging which would be helpful to troubleshoot issues? Can any one provide the order or hierarchy in which logging take place from highest to lowest? Thanks!

Mike
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7 Answers7

334

This table might be helpful for you:

Log Level

Going down the first column, you will see how the log works in each level. i.e for WARN, (FATAL, ERROR and WARN) will be visible. For OFF, nothing will be visible.

Hoa Nguyen
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  • The terms *visibility* and *item* are not self explanatory. I see that the official documentation is also vague on this. The output method such as `error`, `info`, `debug`, etc. of the logger assigns a priority/severity level to the logging message. If the logging really takes effect (the message will be visible) depends on the effective logging level of the logger being used. – Wolf Oct 06 '17 at 06:18
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    link broken. please fix or remove – yurin May 13 '18 at 15:11
  • Although this answers the question (that's just asking for the "hierarchy order"), I finally downvoted for your poor terminology: *going down*, *"visibility" works*, *item*. Didn't you wish to explain how logger configuration affects the actual logging (passing log events)? *Please* consider another update. BTW: the table in the [official documentation](https://logging.apache.org/log4j/2.x/manual/architecture.html#LoggerConfig) (at the end of the section) differs in treating `OFF` and `ALL`, well, after reading some of the source (not finding special cases) I doubt that their table is correct. – Wolf May 24 '18 at 09:58
  • Thank you Wolf, I have updated the answer according to your comments. – Hoa Nguyen Jun 05 '18 at 08:21
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    I think this is an excellent visualization of the log levels and the expected log message types that would be output for a specific logger level setting. My only suggestion might be to have alternating row colors to guide the viewer that the chart should be interpreted by row rather than column. (i.e. the rows represent logger levels and the columns represent log message types that would be present) – Larry Hector Jun 10 '18 at 03:12
152

Use the force, read the source (excerpt from the Priority and Level class compiled, TRACE level was introduced in version 1.2.12):

public final static int OFF_INT = Integer.MAX_VALUE;
public final static int FATAL_INT = 50000;
public final static int ERROR_INT = 40000;
public final static int WARN_INT  = 30000;
public final static int INFO_INT  = 20000;
public final static int DEBUG_INT = 10000;
public static final int TRACE_INT = 5000; 
public final static int ALL_INT = Integer.MIN_VALUE;

or the log4j API for the Level class, which makes it quite clear.

When the library decides whether to print a certain statement or not, it computes the effective level of the responsible Logger object (based on configuration) and compares it with the LogEvent's level (depends on which method was used in the code – trace/debug/.../fatal). If LogEvent's level is greater or equal to the Logger's level, the LogEvent is sent to appender(s) – "printed". At the core, it all boils down to an integer comparison and this is where these constants come to action.

MaDa
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59
OFF
FATAL
ERROR
WARN
INFO
DEBUG
TRACE
ALL
the.malkolm
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    This is conflicting with information provided at http://www.tutorialspoint.com/log4j/log4j_logging_levels.htm Which one is true??? – Mike Oct 12 '11 at 23:37
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    check the code where are integer variables for proof http://www.docjar.com/html/api/org/apache/log4j/Level.java.html – the.malkolm Oct 13 '11 at 07:25
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    at your link it said that "ALL < DEBUG < INFO < WARN < ERROR < FATAL < OFF" and it perfectly the same as I said – the.malkolm Oct 13 '11 at 07:27
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    Venn diagram OFF() ALL(TRACE(DEBUG(INFO(WARN(ERROR(FATAL)))))) – Hernán Eche May 05 '16 at 13:14
  • @Mike on [log4j Logging Levels](https://www.tutorialspoint.com/log4j/log4j_logging_levels.htm "log4j Logging Levels") they use **alphabetic order in the first table**. Except for the missing `trace`, they later correctly state that `ALL < DEBUG < INFO < WARN < ERROR < FATAL < OFF` (wherein ` – Wolf May 24 '18 at 10:07
24

Hierarchy of log4j logging levels are as follows in Highest to Lowest order :

  • TRACE
  • DEBUG
  • INFO
  • WARN
  • ERROR
  • FATAL
  • OFF

TRACE log level provides highest logging which would be helpful to troubleshoot issues. DEBUG log level is also very useful to trouble shoot the issues.

You can also refer this link for more information about log levels : https://logging.apache.org/log4j/2.0/manual/architecture.html

Pathik Mehta
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12

[Taken from http://javarevisited.blogspot.com/2011/05/top-10-tips-on-logging-in-java.html]

DEBUG is the lowest restricted java logging level and we should write everything we need to debug an application, this java logging mode should only be used on Development and Testing environment and must not be used in production environment.

INFO is more restricted than DEBUG java logging level and we should log messages which are informative purpose like Server has been started, Incoming messages, outgoing messages etc in INFO level logging in java.

WARN is more restricted than INFO java logging level and used to log warning sort of messages e.g. Connection lost between client and server. Database connection lost, Socket reaching to its limit. These messages and java logging level are almost important because you can setup alert on these logging messages in java and let your support team monitor health of your java application and react on this warning messages. In Summary WARN level is used to log warning message for logging in Java.

ERROR is the more restricted java logging level than WARN and used to log Errors and Exception, you can also setup alert on this java logging level and alert monitoring team to react on this messages. ERROR is serious for logging in Java and you should always print it.

FATAL java logging level designates very severe error events that will presumably lead the application to abort. After this mostly your application crashes and stopped.

OFF java logging level has the highest possible rank and is intended to turn off logging in Java.

chocolatecastle
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4

Hierarchy order

  1. ALL
  2. TRACE
  3. DEBUG
  4. INFO
  5. WARN
  6. ERROR
  7. FATAL
  8. OFF
Sarath
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0

To make it clear, there is no defined term like 'hierarchy' in log4j. Yes there are different levels. For troubleshooting you have to select which level you want the logs.

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Caffeine Coder
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