Write to custom log file from a Bash script

Question

In Linux, I know how to write a simply message to the /var/log/messages file, in a simple shell script I created:

#!/bin/bash
logger \"have fun!\"
<         


        

Answer 1

@chepner make a good point that logger is dedicated to logging messages.

I do need to mention that @Thomas Haratyk simply inquired why I didn't simply use echo.

At the time, I didn't know about echo, as I'm learning shell-scripting, but he was right.

My simple solution is now this:

#!/bin/bash
echo "This logs to where I want, but using echo" > /var/log/mycustomlog

The example above will overwrite the file after the >

So, I can append to that file with this:

#!/bin/bash
echo "I will just append to my custom log file" >> /var/log/customlog

Thanks guys!

• on a side note, it's simply my personal preference to keep my personal logs in /var/log/, but I'm sure there are other good ideas out there. And since I didn't create a daemon, /var/log/ probably isn't the best place for my custom log file. (just saying)