Setting up the logger in rails 3

Question

I'm trying to figure out how to use the logger with rails 3. I need to log to a file not have it in the console, but I just can't figure out how to set it up and then, how to write something to that log. I tried the rails docs but they didn't really make it clear.

Solution

By default, Rails should be logging to an environment-specific log file in your project's log directory. It will be called either test.log, development.log, or production.log depending on which environment you're running in.

You can log directly to Rails' logger using the Rails.logger object:

Rails.logger.info "My info message"
Rails.logger.debug "My debugging message"
Rails.logger.warn "My warning message"

Rails used to use Ruby's standard logging class, but it now uses ActiveSupport::BufferedLogger. (The official Ruby on Rails Guides are incorrect when they say "Rails makes use of Ruby’s standard logger to write log information").

Comments

[Matthew Stopa]

Thanks a billion times over. Seriously saved me today

[Duke]

I believe it's using ActiveSupport::BufferedLogger ... just check out Rails.logger.class

[Dylan Markow]

@Duke You are absolutely correct. Looks like the official Rails Guides are incorrect.