Log File Watcher

A Go-based utility for watching log files and directories for changes. The tool supports filtering log entries, prettifying output with color-coding, and handling log files in JSON format.

Features

• Watch individual log files or entire directories for changes.
• Filter logs by specific key-value pairs (e.g., log_level[debug]).
• Color-code log entries for easy differentiation.
• Handles logs in JSON format and extracts key details for display.

Requirements

• Go 1.23

How to Install it:

First, clone this repository to your machine:

git clone https://github.com/khalilcharfi/log-watcher.git

Next, run the following command to build and install the application:

chmod +x install.sh
./install.sh

This script will:

• Check if Go is installed and ensure it’s version 1.20 or higher.
• Download and install Go if it’s not already installed.
• Build the log-watcher binary for your system.
• Optionally, add an alias for log-watcher to your bash or zsh shell.

How to Use it:

In Development Mode:

When developing, you can run the tool directly using go run:

go run ./cmd {filepath}

Replace {filepath} with the path to the log file you want to watch.

After Compiling:

After compiling the application, you can run it as follows:

./log-watcher {filepath}

Replace {filepath} with the path to the log file you want to watch.

Advanced Usage

Watch a Directory for Log Files

To watch a directory for .log files, use the -d flag:

./log-watcher -d /path/to/your/log/directory

This will watch all .log files in the specified directory. If any new .log files are created, they will automatically be watched.

Prettify Output with Color Coding

To enable color-coded output for each file, use the -p flag:

./log-watcher -p /path/to/your/log/file.log

Filter Logs by Specific Key-Value Pairs

You can filter logs by a specific key-value pair using the --filter flag. For example:

./log-watcher --filter=log_level[debug] /path/to/your/log/file.log

This command will only display logs where log_level is debug.

Combining Options

All options can be combined. For example:

./log-watcher -d /path/to/your/log/directory -p --filter=category[debug]

This will watch all .log files in the specified directory, filter logs by category=debug, and apply color-coded output.

Default Behavior

If you simply pass a file path as an argument (e.g., go run ./cmd {filepath} or ./log-watcher {filepath}), the program will watch that specific file without any prettification or filtering.