3.0.0-rc1 - Unable to log timestamps

[wittyPuneet]

I followed the example from the documentation, and created a logger as shown below:

const { createLogger, format, transports } = require('winston');

const logger = createLogger(
    {
        level: 'info',
        transports: [new transports.Console({
            showLevel: false,
            colorize: true,
            timestamp: true
        })
        ]
    }
);

logger.info('Server started');

But, I can seem to get the time stamps working. I get the following output in black and white:

{"message":"Server started","level":"info"}

Based on the documentation at https://github.com/winstonjs/winston/blob/master/docs/transports.md#console-transport, setting timestamp flag to true should put a default timestamp.

I even tried by returning a custom timestamp by passing a function but even that doesn't show up. Perhaps, I missed something but it seems like none of the options work, ie. colorize, showLevel, timestamp.

Or is the documentation out of sync?

[adityamertia]

No updates on this issue yet? I am facing same issue. Works on winston@2.4.0 but not on winston@3.0.0-rc1

[ChrisAlderson]

Have a look at the formats you can use with winston@3.0.0rc-1.

const { createLogger, format, transports } = require('winston')

const logger = createLogger({
  level: 'info',
  transports: new transports.Console({
    format: format.combine(
      format.timestamp({
        format: 'YYYY-MM-DD' // Optional for choosing your own timestamp format.
      }),
      format.json()
    )
  })
})

logger.info('Server started')

The example prints out the following:

{"message":"Server started","level":"info","timestamp":"2018-01-17T15:20:55.621Z"}

Or with the formatting option:

{"message":"Server started","level":"info","timestamp":"2018-01-17"}

[justLuiz]

why format.timestamp does not work without format.json being declared after format.timestamp?

[nextsoftpl]

I just want a simple at the beginning of line just as it was before, I don't want json formatting
[2018-01-17T15:20:55.621Z] INFO sdfsdfsdfsdfdfasfsadf, how can I achieve this?

[cameck]

On version 2.3.1 I can achieve:
2018-02-12T18:50:25.472Z - INFO: Starting up the process

With:

const winston = require('winston');

const logger = new (winston.Logger)({
  transports: [
    new (winston.transports.Console)({ timestamp: true, colorize: true}),
  ],
  exceptionHandlers: [
    new (winston.transports.Console)({ timestamp: true, colorize: true }),
  ],
  level: 'INFO',
  levels: {
    FATAL: 0,
    ERROR: 1,
    WARN: 2,
    INFO: 3,
    DEBUG: 4
  },
  colors: {
    INFO: 'blue',
    WARN: 'green',
    ERROR: 'yellow',
    FATAL: 'red'
  }
});

module.exports = logger

[armadillojim]

I was hoping to use the "simple" line-of-text logging. I tried following the docs:

const winston = require('winston');
const logger = winston.createLogger({
    format: winston.format.combine(
        winston.format.timestamp(),
        winston.format.colorize(),
        winston.format.simple()
    ),
    transports: [new winston.transports.Console()]
});

But that winds up mixing text and JSON like:

info: GET /alice?bob {"timestamp":"2018-02-21T02:52:31.452Z"}

I was hoping to prefix each line with the timestamp, and for the timestamp to be printed alone. Something like:

2018-02-21T02:52:31.452Z info: GET /alice?bob

but the comments above indicate that's only possible using the older style of passing options to the Console() constructor.

Any suggestions? Or am I asking the wrong question? That is, do log analyzers prefer JSON these days? TIA.

[ChrisAlderson]

@armadillojim

Use the printf format like this:

const { createLogger, format, transports } = require('winston')
const { colorize, combine, timestamp, printf } = format

// Define your custom format with printf.
const myFormat = printf(info => {
  return `${info.timestamp} ${info.level}: ${info.message}`
})

const logger = createLogger({
  format: combine(
    timestamp(),
    colorize(),
    myFormat
  ),
  transports: [new transports.Console()]
})

logger.info('foo') // -> 2018-02-21T03:55:19.236Z info: foo

[nextsoftpl]

@ChrisAlderson you are the man, also if you want to display the splat I enhanced your answer with:
`
const vsprintf = require('sprintf-js').vsprintf;

const myFormat = printf(info =>${info.timestamp} ${info.level}: ${vsprintf(info.message, ...(info.splat || []))})
`

[reddishtg]

@ChrisAlderson, thanks so much! The documentation did not seem clear on this to me. Much appreciated!

[indexzero]

Thanks for helping folks out @ChrisAlderson. Contributions on documentation to improve explaining how formats work would be most welcome 👍

[OzzyTheGiant]

Note: be careful when using timestamp with metadata, apparently using both format functions leads to putting the time stamp as info.metadata.timestamp instead of info.timestamp

[fodisi]

In case someone needs to log additional metadata, including error's stack, the snippet below does the job (PS: example uses a simple output format). The snipped below targets @armadillojim expected output (described earlier ) and is a tinny improvement based on @ChrisAlderson's answer.

As described by @OzzyTheGiant, when using timestamp with metadata, timestamp is accessed as a property of metadata, not info.

import winston from 'winston';

// Creates the default formatter.
// We deconstruct "metadata" into "timestamp" and "meta", and use them in the default formatter.
const logFormat = winston.format.printf((info) => {
  const { timestamp, ...meta } = info.metadata;
  return `${timestamp} ${info.level}: ${info.message} ${JSON.stringify(meta)}`;
});

// Creates the logger. "padLevels", "colorize" and "padLevels" are optional.
logger = winston.createLogger({
  format: winston.format.combine(
    winston.format.timestamp({ format: 'YYYY-MM-DD HH:mm:ss' }),
    winston.format.padLevels(),
    winston.format.metadata(),
    winston.format.errors({ stack: true }),
    logFormat,
    winston.format.colorize({ all: true })
  ),
  transports: [new winston.transports.Console()],
});



logger.info('Simple log');
logger.info('Logger Info', { logLevel: 'info', colorize: { all: true } });
logger.error('', new Error('Logger error'));

Output:

// 2019-05-11 00:20:53 info:     Simple log {}
// 2019-05-11 00:20:53 info:     Logger Info {"logLevel":"info","colorize":{"all":true}}
// 2019-05-11 00:20:53 error:    Logger error {"stack":"Logger error\n    at ...

[kraag22]

why format.timestamp does not work without format.json being declared after format.timestamp?

This is still the thing 2 year later.

this works
format: winston.format.combine( winston.format.timestamp(), winston.format.json() ),

this doesn't
format: winston.format.combine( winston.format.json(), winston.format.timestamp() ),

for writing logs to file