When to use log over fmt for debugging and printing error?

Question

I know that we can print variable or error using log and fmt. for example if I want to print variable I can do this :

h := "world"
fmt.Printf("hello = %v\n", h)
log.Printf("halo = %v\n", h)

the output would be :

hello = world
2016/12/30 09:13:12 halo = world

and usually in the error handling I found log like this

if err != nil {
    log.Println("Error : something terrible happen -> ", err)
    return err
}

but from above case I could also use fmt to print the error like this

fmt.Printf("Error : something terrible happen -> %v\n",err.Error())

Is it a good practice to use fmt instead of log for printing the error? And then I always use fmt instead of log for printing the variable when debugging.

Possible duplicate of [Why should I use log.Println instead of fmt.Println?](https://stackoverflow.com/questions/19646889/why-should-i-use-log-println-instead-of-fmt-println) — mayo, Oct 09 '17 at 17:23

Charlie Tumahai · Accepted Answer · 2016-12-30T16:38:30.237

58

Select between log and fmt using these facts:

The log functions print to stderr by default and can directed to an arbitrary writer. The fmt.Printf function prints to stdout.
The log functions can print timestamp, source code location and other info.
The log functions and fmt.Printf are both thread safe, but concurrent writes by fmt.Printf above an OS dependent size can be interleaved.

The answer to the three sub questions are "it depends".

edited Dec 30 '16 at 16:38

answered Dec 30 '16 at 02:55

Charlie Tumahai

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Could show me an example about `The log functions can print timestamp, source code location and other info.` ? – BlackMamba Dec 30 '16 at 04:34
1

@BlackMamba It looks like this but is happens automatically when you use log: `Dec 16 16:13:20 My-MacBook someDescription[80590]: 2019/12/16 16:13:20 Error 1054: Unknown column 'xxx' in 'field list'` – Serkan Sipahi Dec 17 '19 at 07:52

James Sapam · Answer 2 · 2016-12-30T17:54:13.070

13

I would like to add one more point:

Log is thread safe where as fmt is not.

A Logger can be used simultaneously from multiple goroutines; it guarantees to serialize access to the Writer.

Link

edited Dec 30 '16 at 17:54

answered Dec 30 '16 at 03:13

James Sapam

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how do you know if `log` is thread safe? any reference for this ? thanks – Gujarat Santana Dec 30 '16 at 11:18
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@GujaratSantana The [logger documentation](https://godoc.org/log#Logger) states that a logger can be used simultaneously from multiple goroutines. There is no documentation on the thread safety of `fmt.Printf`. The `fmt.Printf` implementation is thread safe it is very unlikely that it will be changed to not be thread safe. – Charlie Tumahai Dec 30 '16 at 12:56
4

Actually, though `fmt.Printf` is thread safe in the sense that it doesn't have any data races, a `Logger` uses a mutex to serialize the output, while fmt writes it out directly. With enough concurrency you can get interleaved writes to stdout. – JimB Dec 30 '16 at 14:14

score 7 · Answer 3 · answered Dec 30 '16 at 03:11

You generally don't get into trouble if you stick to use fmt.Print* for program output and log.* for program logging.

Of course if your program doesn't have "local" output (as most network server programs) you could use both for logging, but for logging log.* is more flexible and apt.

score 4 · Answer 4 · answered Aug 01 '19 at 15:24

From "Essential Go" book

Standard package log offers more functionality:

log.Printf("Logging")
log.Printf("Second line\n")

2019/03/26 10:07:11 Logging
2019/03/26 10:07:11 Second line

Compared to fmt.Printf, log.Printf:

By default logs to stderr (os.Stderr)
Adds current time to each log line
Ensures that echo log is on it’s own line by adding \n if not explicitly provided

To log fatal issues:

f, err := os.Open("file.txt")
if err != nil {
    log.Fatalf("os.Open('file.txt') failed with '%s'\n", err)
}

log.Fatalf logs the message and calls os.Exit(1) to end the process.

When to use log over fmt for debugging and printing error?

4 Answers4

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