How To Log Command Prompt Windows

To enable logging of command prompt windows, insert the following line at the end of the .bashrc file in the Home directory:

Code:

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test "$(ps -ocommand= -p $PPID | awk '{print $1}')" == 'script' || (script -f $HOME/Logs/$(date +"%b-%d-%Y_%H-%M-%S")_shell.log)

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This will create a file called "Jan-07-2017_15-28-18_shell.log" (of course, the date and time will change). The file will be created in the directory "/root/Logs".

Logging of the command prompt window can come in handy when you want to look back at what went wrong (or right) during a command prompt window. Everything that prints on the screen prints to the text file. Have you ever closed a command prompt window and then remembered you meant to copy an error message?

You can play around with the variables to name the file what you want. Make sure you create the directory you are planning on storing the files in before you run the command prompt if it is not already created.

Variables are from the DATE command. Type "man DATE" at a command prompt to see the list.

%% a literal %

%a locale's abbreviated weekday name (e.g., Sun)

%A locale's full weekday name (e.g., Sunday)

%b locale's abbreviated month name (e.g., Jan)

%B locale's full month name (e.g., January)

%c locale's date and time (e.g., Thu Mar 3 23:05:25 2005)

%C century; like %Y, except omit last two digits (e.g., 20)

%d day of month (e.g., 01)

%D date; same as %m/%d/%y

%e day of month, space padded; same as %_d

%F full date; same as %Y-%m-%d

%g last two digits of year of ISO week number (see %G)

%G year of ISO week number (see %V); normally useful only with %V

%h same as %b

%H hour (00..23)

%I hour (01..12)

%j day of year (001..366)

%k hour, space padded ( 0..23); same as %_H

%l hour, space padded ( 1..12); same as %_I

%m month (01..12)

%M minute (00..59)

%n a newline

%N nanoseconds (000000000..999999999)

%p locale's equivalent of either AM or PM; blank if not known

%P like %p, but lower case

%q quarter of year (1..4)

%r locale's 12-hour clock time (e.g., 11:11:04 PM)

%R 24-hour hour and minute; same as %H:%M

%s seconds since 1970-01-01 00:00:00 UTC

%S second (00..60)

%t a tab

%T time; same as %H:%M:%S

%u day of week (1..7); 1 is Monday

%U week number of year, with Sunday as first day of week (00..53)

%V ISO week number, with Monday as first day of week (01..53)

%w day of week (0..6); 0 is Sunday

%W week number of year, with Monday as first day of week (00..53)

%x locale's date representation (e.g., 12/31/99)

%X locale's time representation (e.g., 23:13:48)

%y last two digits of year (00..99)

%Y year

%z +hhmm numeric time zone (e.g., -0400)

%:z +hh:mm numeric time zone (e.g., -04:00)

%::z +hh:mm:ss numeric time zone (e.g., -04:00:00)

%:::z numeric time zone with : to necessary precision (e.g., -04, +05:30)

%Z alphabetic time zone abbreviation (e.g., EDT)

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