how to use logger to write info to log

Question

I want to use the logger command in order to write logs to /var/log/server.log

NOTE: These examples use the FreeBSD version of logger. Your system may have different options, so read your local documentation!

logger -p INFO -f /var/log/server.log -t MY_LOG_TAG "server is up"

This suppose to send the message to be logged in /var/log/server.log with the info, It includes a tag (-t MY_LOG_TAG), which is included in each line.

but the syntax with the logger not append the log to /var/log/server.log

please advice what is wring with the logger syntax ?

second is it possible to add the date in the log line ?

expected output

Wed Mar 6 18:16:54 UTC 2019 INFO server is up

Answer 1

You have misunderstood the -f option.

From the FreeBSD logger(1) manual:

-f file

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

The logger utility will send the message to the syslog service (by default on the local machine) and depending on its configuration and the priority/tag of the message, it will be appended to one or several log files. You can't log to a specific log file without configuring syslog to treat your log messages specially.