Spring Boot log4j2.properties Example

Spring boot’s default logging uses Logback which is included as a transitive dependency. Spring Boot supports Log4j2 for logging configuration if it is on the classpath and Logback has been excluded.

1. Maven Dependencies

First, remove spring’s default logging dependency (spring-boot-starter-logging) and then add log4j2 dependency (spring-boot-starter-log4j2).

Spring will automatically configure log4j2 once it finds its jar files in the classpath.

<dependencies>
  <dependency>
    <groupId>org.springframework.boot</groupId>
    <artifactId>spring-boot-starter-web</artifactId>
    <exclusions>
      <exclusion>
        <groupId>org.springframework.boot</groupId>
        <artifactId>spring-boot-starter-logging</artifactId>
      </exclusion>
    </exclusions>
  </dependency>
  <dependency>
    <groupId>org.springframework.boot</groupId>
    <artifactId>spring-boot-starter-log4j2</artifactId>
  </dependency>
</dependencies>

2. Add log4j2.properties File in /resources Folder

Now we have to add log4j2.properties or (log4j2.xml) in src/main/resources folder. That’s all.

You can refer to log4j2 properties file example for more detailed configuration options.

status = error   #The level of internal Log4j events that should be logged to the console.
name = PropertiesConfig

filters = threshold

filter.threshold.type = ThresholdFilter
filter.threshold.level = debug

appenders = console

appender.console.type = Console
appender.console.name = STDOUT
appender.console.layout.type = PatternLayout
appender.console.layout.pattern = %d{yyyy-MM-dd HH:mm:ss} %-5p %c{1}:%L - %m%n

rootLogger.level = debug
rootLogger.appenderRefs = stdout
rootLogger.appenderRef.stdout.ref = STDOUT

3. Demo

Now add a few log statements in the application and see the logs in configured appenders e.g. I configured console and file.

import org.apache.logging.log4j.LogManager;
import org.apache.logging.log4j.Logger;
import org.springframework.boot.SpringApplication;
import org.springframework.boot.autoconfigure.SpringBootApplication;
import org.springframework.boot.web.servlet.support.SpringBootServletInitializer;
import org.springframework.context.ApplicationContext;

@SpringBootApplication
public class Application extends SpringBootServletInitializer {

	private static final Logger LOGGER = LogManager.getLogger(Application.class);

	public static void main(String[] args)
    {
        ApplicationContext ctx = SpringApplication.run(Application.class, args);

        LOGGER.info("Info level log message");
        LOGGER.debug("Debug level log message");
        LOGGER.error("Error level log message");
    }
}

Check the output.

2018-06-01T13:55:42.506+0530 INFO Info level log message
2018-06-01T13:55:42.506+0530 DEBUG Debug level log message
2018-06-01T13:55:42.506+0530 ERROR Error level log message

Let me know if you have any questions about the configuration of spring boot log4j2 properties.

Happy Learning !!