Explain the logging module in Python and its benefits

Explain the logging module in Python and its benefits

What is the logging module?

The logging module in Python is used to record events that happen while the program runs. It’s helpful for:

• Debugging
• Monitoring
• Error tracking
• Auditing

Benefits of Using Logging

1. Tracks Errors and Events:
   • Logs all events—info, warnings, errors—without stopping the program.
2. Saves Logs to File:
   • You can review logs even after the program ends.
3. Better Than Print():
   • print() is only for quick checks, while logging provides structured, leveled logs.
4. Log Levels:
   • Allows you to control what level of information is logged.

Logging Levels (in order of severity):

Basic Example:

import logging

# Set up basic configuration
logging.basicConfig(level=logging.DEBUG)

logging.debug("Debug message")
logging.info("Informational message")
logging.warning("This is a warning")
logging.error("An error has occurred")
logging.critical("Critical error")

This will print messages to the console. You can also log to a file:

logging.basicConfig(filename='app.log', level=logging.INFO)

Summary

Using logging, you can monitor your code’s behavior and catch issues early—making it a professional and maintainable approach over just using print().