BASH Logging Function

Updated Sun 2016-12-25 | 105 words

This is a small BASH logging function to record the output of a command:

function logit {
    today=$(date +%Y-%m-%d.%H.%M)
    "$@" > >(tee "$1".stdout."$today".log) 2> >(tee "$1".stderr."$today".log >&2)
}

How it works:

1. The output of the date command is stored in $today
2. All arguments to the function ( $@ ) are executed and stdout and stderr are redirected to files.
   1. > redirects stdout and 2> redirects stderr
   2. >( ) is a process substitution construction. The > in front means that the input passed to the subprocess will be treaded as stdin.
   3. That stdin is redirected to a file by tee.