Errors & Logging

• Configuration
• Handling Errors
• HTTP Exceptions
• Handling 404 Errors
• Logging

Configuration

The logging handler for your application is registered in the app/start/global.php start file. By default, the logger is configured to use a single log file; however, you may customize this behavior as needed. Since Laravel uses the popular Monolog logging library, you can take advantage of the variety of handlers that Monolog offers.

For example, if you wish to use daily log files instead of a single, large file, you can make the following change to your start file:

$logFile = 'laravel.log';
 
Log::useDailyFiles(storage_path().'/logs/'.$logFile);

Error Detail

By default, error detail is enabled for your application. This means that when an error occurs you will be shown an error page with a detailed stack trace and error message. You may turn off error details by setting the debug option in your app/config/app.php file to false.

Handling Errors

By default, the app/start/global.php file contains an error handler for all exceptions:

App::error(function(Exception $exception)
{
    Log::error($exception);
});

This is the most basic error handler. However, you may specify more handlers if needed. Handlers are called based on the type-hint of the Exception they handle. For example, you may create a handler that only handles RuntimeException instances:

App::error(function(RuntimeException $exception)
{
    // Handle the exception...
});

If an exception handler returns a response, that response will be sent to the browser and no other error handlers will be called:

App::error(function(InvalidUserException $exception)
{
    Log::error($exception);
 
    return 'Sorry! Something is wrong with this account!';
});

To listen for PHP fatal errors, you may use the App::fatal method:

App::fatal(function($exception)
{
    //
});

If you have several exception handlers, they should be defined from most generic to most specific. So, for example, a handler that handles all exceptions of type Exception should be defined before a custom exception type such as Illuminate\Encryption\DecryptException.

Where To Place Error Handlers

There is no default "home" for error handler registrations. Laravel offers you freedom in this area. One option is to define the handlers in your start/global.php file. In general, this is a convenient location to place any "bootstrapping" code. If that file is getting crowded, you could create an app/errors.php file, and require that file from your start/global.php script. A third option is to create a service provider that registers the handlers. Again, there is no single "correct" answer. Choose a location that you are comfortable with.

HTTP Exceptions

Some exceptions describe HTTP error codes from the server. For example, this may be a "page not found" error (404), an "unauthorized error" (401) or even a developer generated 500 error. In order to return such a response, use the following:

App::abort(404);

Optionally, you may provide a response:

App::abort(403, 'Unauthorized action.');

This method may be used at any time during the request's lifecycle.

Handling 404 Errors

You may register an error handler that handles all "404 Not Found" errors in your application, allowing you to easily return custom 404 error pages:

App::missing(function($exception)
{
    return Response::view('errors.missing', array(), 404);
});

Logging

The Laravel logging facilities provide a simple layer on top of the powerful Monolog library. By default, Laravel is configured to create a single log file for your application, and this file is stored in app/storage/logs/laravel.log. You may write information to the log like so:

Log::info('This is some useful information.');
 
Log::warning('Something could be going wrong.');
 
Log::error('Something is really going wrong.');

The logger provides the seven logging levels defined in RFC 5424: debug, info, notice, warning, error, critical, and alert.

An array of contextual data may also be passed to the log methods:

Log::info('Log message', array('context' => 'Other helpful information'));

Monolog has a variety of additional handlers you may use for logging. If needed, you may access the underlying Monolog instance being used by Laravel:

$monolog = Log::getMonolog();

You may also register an event to catch all messages passed to the log:

Registering A Log Listener

Log::listen(function($level, $message, $context)
{
    //
});