🧹 LOGCLEANER

Fast log cleaner and optimizer for high-performance environments

LOGCLEANER is a specialized utility designed to truncate text log files to an exact number of last lines, synchronized with a specific point in time. It optimizes log readability by merging multiline entries (lines without a date) and provides powerful filtering capabilities.

✨ Features

Precision Truncation: Keeps exactly the last $N$ lines up to a specific date/time.

Log Optimization: Automatically appends date-less lines to the previous timestamped entry.

Flexible Filtering: Optional string stub filtering for focused analysis (e.g., keeping only "ERROR").

Safety First: Automatically creates a .bak file and attempts recovery in case of failure.

🚀 Usage

    logcleaner <log_path> --lines <max_lines> --date <date> --format <date_format> [--exclude <exclude_stub> ...]

Parameters

Argument	Description	Requirement
**log_path	Absolute or relative path to the log file.	Required
--lines int	Maximum number of lines to retain.	Required
--date "string"	Date: Date in the past.	Required
--format "string"	Date Format: Golang style time format time#Layout.	Required
--exclude "string"	Exclude Stub: Exclude lines containing this string (can be used multiple times).	Optional

💡 Examples

Standard cleanup (last 1500 lines):

    logcleaner /var/log/apache2/messages.txt --lines 1500

Cleanup with specific timestamp:

    logcleaner /var/log/apache2/messages.txt --lines 1500 --date "2025-01-01" --format "2006-01-02"

    logcleaner /var/log/apache2/messages.txt --lines 1500 --date "2025-01-01 00:00:00" --format "2006-01-02 15:04:05"

Cleanup with ERROR excluding:

    logcleaner /var/log/apache2/messages.txt --lines 1500 --date "2025-01-01" -format "2006-01-02" --exclude "DEBUG"

🛠 Commands & Flags

Flag	Action
-h, --help	Display help message.
-v, --version	Display version and build information.

📝 Technical Notes

Input Validation: The log_path must explicitly start with / (absolute) or ./ (relative).

Format: The date_format must strictly follow the Go reference layout.

Data Integrity: The tool always creates a backup. If a process is interrupted, it attempts to restore the original file from the .bak copy.

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Author: Fred Brooker 💌 git@gscloud.cz ⛅️ GS Cloud Ltd. https://gscloud.cz