Log4net - show time (not date) in console

Question

I am using log4net to log to the console, and the %date conversionPattern value is too verbose. I would like to see just hh:mm:ss - the date is not required cos I know what the date is today.

Current config:

[conversionPattern value="%date %-5level - %message%newline" /]

Answer 1

You can use date or utcdate to format a date to your specification:

date

Used to output the date of the logging event in the local time zone. To output the date in universal time use the %utcdate pattern. The date conversion specifier may be followed by a date format specifier enclosed between braces. For example, %date{HH:mm:ss,fff} or %date{dd MMM yyyy HH:mm:ss,fff}. If no date format specifier is given then ISO8601 format is assumed (Iso8601DateFormatter).

The date format specifier admits the same syntax as the time pattern string of the ToString.

For better results it is recommended to use the log4net date formatters. These can be specified using one of the strings "ABSOLUTE", "DATE" and "ISO8601" for specifying AbsoluteTimeDateFormatter, DateTimeDateFormatter and respectively Iso8601DateFormatter. For example, %date{ISO8601} or %date{ABSOLUTE}.

These dedicated date formatters perform significantly better than ToString.

utcdate

Used to output the date of the logging event in universal time. The date conversion specifier may be followed by a date format specifier enclosed between braces. For example, %utcdate{HH:mm:ss,fff} or %utcdate{dd MMM yyyy HH:mm:ss,fff}. If no date format specifier is given then ISO8601 format is assumed (Iso8601DateFormatter).

The date format specifier admits the same syntax as the time pattern string of the ToString.

For better results it is recommended to use the log4net date formatters. These can be specified using one of the strings "ABSOLUTE", "DATE" and "ISO8601" for specifying AbsoluteTimeDateFormatter, DateTimeDateFormatter and respectively Iso8601DateFormatter. For example, %utcdate{ISO8601} or %utcdate{ABSOLUTE}.

These dedicated date formatters perform significantly better than ToString.

Source: log4net PatternLayout documentation.