Devomatik
DevCodeF1Com
Published in
3 min readAug 16, 2023

--

Fixing the Issue with logging.BasicConfig encoding param in Python

Logging is an essential part of software development. It helps us keep track of what’s happening behind the scenes and troubleshoot issues when they arise. Python provides a built-in logging module that makes it easy to implement logging functionality in our applications. However, there is one particular issue with the logging.BasicConfig method that can cause some headaches: the encoding parameter.

When using the logging.BasicConfig method, we can specify the encoding parameter to determine how the log messages should be encoded. The default value is None, which means the messages will be encoded using the default encoding of the system. However, specifying a different encoding can lead to unexpected results.

Imagine this scenario: you have a Python application that logs messages containing non-ASCII characters, such as accented letters or emojis. You decide to set the encoding parameter of logging.BasicConfig to 'utf-8' to ensure proper encoding of these characters. But to your surprise, the log messages now look like a chaotic mix of gibberish!

The issue lies in how the logging module handles the encoding parameter. Instead of encoding the log messages, it actually decodes them using the specified encoding. This behavior is not intuitive and can lead to confusion.

So, how can we fix this issue? The solution is actually quite simple. Instead of setting the encoding parameter of logging.BasicConfig, we need to handle the encoding ourselves when logging messages. We can achieve this by configuring the logging formatter to use a custom encoding.

Here’s an example of how to do this:

import logging class CustomFormatter(logging.Formatter): def format(self, record): message = record.getMessage() if isinstance(message, str): message = message.encode('utf-8') record.msg = message return super().format(record) logging.basicConfig(format='%(asctime)s %(levelname)s %(message)s', level=logging.INFO) handler = logging.StreamHandler() handler.setFormatter(CustomFormatter()) logging.getLogger().addHandler(handler) logging.info("This is a message with non-ASCII characters: é, ç, and 😄")

By creating a custom formatter class, we can handle the encoding of log messages ourselves. In this example, we encode the message using UTF-8 before passing it to the parent formatter. This ensures that the log messages are properly encoded, regardless of the system’s default encoding.

Remember, the logging.BasicConfig method is a convenient way to quickly set up logging in Python applications. However, when it comes to handling encodings, it's better to take matters into our own hands and use a custom formatter.

References:

Explore our extensive collection of articles on software development to enhance your skills and stay updated with the latest trends in the industry.

--

--