Logging To File Or Email In PHP

Logging is one of the most important things in software engineering to record important code execution, as well as for debugging.

This is a simple PHP function for logging error and info, by sending email notification or logging to file, with the option to record a different timezone:

<?php

/**
* Logs an error.
*/
function logError($logMessage, $sourceFile)
{
    logInfo($logMessage, $sourceFile, "", true);
}

/**
* Logs an information.
*/
function logInfo($logMessage, $sourceFile, $logTtle = "", $isError = false)
{
    $logEmail       = "admin@example.com";      // Email address to send the logging message. Set to empty to disable it.
    $logFile        = "";                       // File name to store the logging message. Set to empty to disable it.
    $logTimezone    = "Europe/London";          // Set the additional datetime timezone shown in the logging message. Put empty to only show the default.
    
    $now            = new DateTime();           // Get current datetime in the default timezone.
    
    $logMsg = '[' . $now->format("Y-m-d H:i:s e") . ']' . "\r\n" . '[' . $sourceFile . ']' . "\r\n" . $logMessage . "\r\n\r\n";
    
    if ($logTimezone != "")
    {
        // Convert $now to the provided timezone and append at front as additional datetime.
        $now->setTimezone(new DateTimeZone($logTimezone));
        $logMsg = '[' . $now->format("Y-m-d H:i:s e") . '] ' . $logMsg;
        // ==
    }
    
    if ($logFile != "") {
        if ($isError)
            error_log($logMsg, 3, $logFile);
        else
            file_put_contents($logFile, $logMsg, FILE_APPEND | LOCK_EX);
    }
    
    if ($logEmail != "") {
        if ($isError)
            error_log($logMsg, 1, $logEmail);
        else
            mail($logEmail, $logTtle, $logMsg, "From: Notification Admin <noti@example.com>");
    }
}

Usage example:

<?php

try
{
    ...
    ...
    logInfo("Process completed successfully.", __FILE__, "Process Completed");
}
catch(Exception $e)
{
    logError("Process Exception: " . $e->getMessage() . ". Exception on line: " . $e->getLine(), __FILE__);
    exit;
}
?>

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