file: Store messages in plain-text files

The file driver is one of the most important destination drivers. It allows to output messages to the specified text file, or to a set of files.

The destination filename may include macros which get expanded when the message is written, thus a simple file() driver may create several files: for example, AxoSyslog can store the messages of client hosts in a separate file for each host. For more information on available macros see Macros of AxoSyslog.

If the expanded filename refers to a directory which does not exist, it will be created depending on the create-dirs() setting (both global and a per destination option).

The file() has a single required parameter that specifies the filename that stores the log messages. For the list of available optional parameters, see file() destination options.

Declaration:

   file(filename options());

Example: Using the file() driver

   destination d_file { file("/var/log/messages"); };

Example: Using the file() driver with macros in the file name and a template for the message

   destination d_file {
        file("/var/log/${YEAR}.${MONTH}.${DAY}/messages"
             template("${HOUR}:${MIN}:${SEC} ${TZ} ${HOST} [${LEVEL}] ${MESSAGE}\n")
             template-escape(no));
    };