Question

I’m using log4j in my app, and a config file that sets up output to console and a rollingfileappender. Pasting config file below. Is there a way to change
the fileappender output file after opening the config file in code? It opens fine for me, but there are times when I will want to use a different output file than the default one in the config file. Thanks for any direction.

log4j.rootLogger=info, stdout, RFA

log4j.appender.stdout=org.apache.log4j.ConsoleAppender
log4j.appender.stdout.layout=org.apache.log4j.PatternLayout

# Pattern to output the caller's file name and line number.
log4j.appender.stdout.layout.ConversionPattern=[%p] [%d{MM/dd/yyyy HH:mm:ss}] - %m %n

log4j.appender.RFA=org.apache.log4j.RollingFileAppender
log4j.appender.RFA.File=${user.home}/output.log

log4j.appender.RFA.MaxFileSize=100KB
# Keep backup files
log4j.appender.RFA.MaxBackupIndex=5

log4j.appender.RFA.layout=org.apache.log4j.PatternLayout
log4j.appender.RFA.layout.ConversionPattern=[%p] [%d{MM/dd/yyyy HH:mm:ss}] - %m %n

Answer 1

If you mean to edit the properties file from your code and have log4j detect it you’ll have to make log4j monitor the properties file first by calling PropertyConfigurator.configureAndWatch("log4j.properties")

However, I’d prefer to access the appenders programatically using the Logger api like kunal mentioned.

update; code for doing it programatically

Enumeration allAppenders = Logger.getRootLogger().getAllAppenders();
while (allAppenders.hasMoreElements()) {
    Object object = (Object) allAppenders.nextElement();
    if (object instanceof RollingFileAppender) {
        RollingFileAppender appender = (RollingFileAppender) object;
        appender.setFile("/path/to/new/file.log");
        appender.activateOptions();
        break;
    }
}