behavior of LOG command

[Frank]

Today I played a little bit with LOG.
I want to achieve that the output of my script is stored in a file without echoing + redirection.
It seems that I can do it with "LOG /A".
But I'm not sure if LOG is completely working correct.
Here is an example (log-test.btm):

@echo off
ver
echo.
log off
log /e off
log /a off
 
log /w tcc.log
echo hello world
echoerr hello error
do makes no sense
log off
 
log /a /w tcc_all.log
echo hello world
echoerr hello error
do makes no sense
log /a off
 
log /e /w tcc_errors.log
echo hello world
echoerr hello error
do makes no sense
log /e off
 
dir tcc*.log
 
for %log in (tcc*.log) ( echo ^n%log -------------- %+ type /L %log )

And this is the output:

(system)  C:\...\TCMD14x64 >log-test.btm
 
TCC  14.03.52 x64   Windows 7 [Version 6.1.7601]
 
Deleting C:\Program Files\JPSoft\TCMD14x64\tcc.log
Deleting C:\Program Files\JPSoft\TCMD14x64\tcc_all.log
     2 files deleted
 
hello world
hello error
C:\Program Files\JPSoft\TCMD14x64\log-test.btm [13]  Usage : DO [n | FOREVER]
hello world
hello error
C:\Program Files\JPSoft\TCMD14x64\log-test.btm [19]  Usage : DO [n | FOREVER]
hello world
hello error
C:\Program Files\JPSoft\TCMD14x64\log-test.btm [25]  Usage : DO [n | FOREVER]
 
 Volume in drive C is system         Serial number is 54b7:f82e
 Directory of  C:\Program Files\JPSoft\TCMD14x64\tcc*.log
 
07.01.2013  19:26             225  tcc.log
07.01.2013  19:26             105  tcc_all.log
               330 bytes in 2 files and 0 dirs    8.192 bytes allocated
     3.499.761.664 bytes free
 
tcc.log --------------
   1 : [07.01.13 19:26:58][4936] echo hello world
   2 : [07.01.13 19:26:58][4936] echoerr hello error
   3 : [07.01.13 19:26:58][4936] do makes no sense
   4 : [07.01.13 19:26:58][4936] log off
   5 : [07.01.13 19:26:58][4936] Usage : DO [n | FOREVER]
   6 :
 
tcc_all.log --------------
   1 : hello world
   2 : hello error
   3 : C:\Program Files\JPSoft\TCMD14x64\log-test.btm [19]  Usage : DO [n | FOREVER]

1. No error log is created. Why?
2. In tcc.log: should it contain line 5 at all?
3. In tcc_all.log: is it correct that /A doesn't include command logging?
   I would like this because that is what I need in this case ;-)

Somehow the documentation is not totally clear (to me).

 

[forbin]

Okay, so you've waited only a little less than 4 months for a response. But I thought this would be useful to others as well, so here it is. :)

1. The error log (probably by design, though it escapes me why this is) only logs errors that could have been suppressed by an /e flag on the command.
So, for example, del baz.quux will result in a logged error if there is no "baz.quux" present. But del /e baz.quux fails siliently (as expected) but also does not log an error (maybe unexpected).

2. I conducted some tests and discovered an interesting side effect. (Put some DELAY commands between each batch of 3 test commands, and you will see what happens.) That line 5 error is not from the first run! It is from the third run when you were testing the log /e flag! Apparently, when error logging is turned on, syntax error messages (usage messages) go to the command log, not the error log. This might be a bug.

3. Yes, the "all" log contains only output, not the commands, as described in the documentation.

Also...

The history log contains only the commands you've entered from the command line, not any commands executed from within a batch or alias.

If you need a list of all commands executed both manually, and from within batches and aliases, without the timestamps (say, to build another batch file), you'll have to use TCC, or an editor, or SED, or another tool to strip off the timestamps.

If you need a history of all commands and errors, you'll need to write a batch or program that merges the error log with the command log. That will be a little tricky because the entries in the error log come in pairs with a timestamp only on the first line of the pair.

If you need a complete history of all commands (no matter where they came from), all output, and all errors, I think you are out of luck if you are looking for a single general-purpose solution. It doesn't exist. You can probably reconstruct such a log on an ad hoc basis, if you instrument your batch files and maybe force echoing ON permanently with SETDOS, and save the TCC linebuffer separately -- then merge all 4 logs together manually in an editor. I don't know why you'd want to do such a thing, unless it was for troubleshooting or auditing. Certainly not something you'd want to do frequently or on a continuing basis.