How to color logging output in Go

In Go, you can colorize logging output by using third-party libraries that support colored logging. One popular library for this purpose is "logrus," which provides a flexible logging framework with color support. Here's how you can use it to add colors to your logging output:

Install the logrus package using go get:

go get github.com/sirupsen/logrus

Import the logrus package in your Go code:

import (
    "github.com/sirupsen/logrus"
)

Set up the logrus logger:

func setupLogger() *logrus.Logger {
    logger := logrus.New()
    logger.SetFormatter(&logrus.TextFormatter{
        ForceColors: true, // Enable colors in the output
    })
    return logger
}

func main() {
    logger := setupLogger()

    // Now, you can use the logger to print colored output
    logger.WithFields(logrus.Fields{
        "animal": "walrus",
        "size":   10,
    }).Info("A group of walrus emerges from the ocean")
}

The ForceColors: true option in the TextFormatter ensures that the output is colored, regardless of the environment.

Keep in mind that the actual appearance of the colored output may vary depending on the terminal or console you are using to view the logs. Some terminals may not support colors or may need additional configuration.

If you want to use custom colors for different log levels or fields, logrus allows you to customize the color and appearance of the logs further. You can refer to the logrus documentation for more information: https://github.com/sirupsen/logrus

To learn more about logging in Go, visit Better Stack Community.

8 Best Go Logging Libraries

This article compares the 8 Go logging libraries, discussing their features, pros and cons, and providing recommendations for which library is right for you in light of the new Slog package

Guides

Scaling Go Applications

Learn everything you need to know about building, deploying and scaling Go applications in production.

Guides

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.