What do you open a logfile with?

Question

What do you open a logfile with?

dwayne.hofstetter

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August 14, 2013 at 2:30 pm

#277034

I have some errorlogs in C:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server\MSSQL.1\MSSWL\LOG, I have tried opening them with notepad, wordpad, microsoft word, and various other things. What can I view these errorlogs with? Help!

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Gail Shaw SSC Guru Points: 1004504 More actions · Answer 1

Notepad or any other text editor. The error log files are plain text.

Gail Shaw
Microsoft Certified Master: SQL Server, MVP, M.Sc (Comp Sci)
SQL In The Wild: Discussions on DB performance with occasional diversions into recoverability

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Voide Mr or Mrs. 500 Points: 548 More actions · Answer 2

I prefer Notepad++ for reading most logs, actually I prefer it for reading anything.

Gail Shaw SSC Guru Points: 1004504 More actions · Answer 3

I usually use UltraEdit for it's ability to automatically reload the file on change.

Gail Shaw
Microsoft Certified Master: SQL Server, MVP, M.Sc (Comp Sci)
SQL In The Wild: Discussions on DB performance with occasional diversions into recoverability

We walk in the dark places no others will enter
We stand on the bridge and no one may pass

dwayne.hofstetter SSC Rookie Points: 25 More actions · Answer 4

I have tried to do an "open with" and it says it cannot open them. Hmmmm...

Gail Shaw SSC Guru Points: 1004504 More actions · Answer 5

What file are you trying to open?

Gail Shaw
Microsoft Certified Master: SQL Server, MVP, M.Sc (Comp Sci)
SQL In The Wild: Discussions on DB performance with occasional diversions into recoverability

We walk in the dark places no others will enter
We stand on the bridge and no one may pass

dwayne.hofstetter SSC Rookie Points: 25 More actions · Answer 6

ERRLOG, ERRLOG.1, ERRLOG.2, etc.

The directory is in my original post. This is strange.

Gail Shaw SSC Guru Points: 1004504 More actions · Answer 7

I assume you mean ERRORLOG, ERRORLOG.1, etc. They're text files, any text editor or word processor can handle them

Double click the file. Windows will bring up a dialog that says

Select the "Select a program" option. On the dialog that then opens pick Notepad, click OK. Errorlog file opens in notepad.

If you don't want to permanently associate the .1, .2, .3 file 'types' with notepad, then uncheck the option at the bottom of the second dialog before hitting OK

The errorlog file (without extension), will bring up the Open With dialog directly (at least it does in Win7)

Gail Shaw
Microsoft Certified Master: SQL Server, MVP, M.Sc (Comp Sci)
SQL In The Wild: Discussions on DB performance with occasional diversions into recoverability

We walk in the dark places no others will enter
We stand on the bridge and no one may pass

dwayne.hofstetter SSC Rookie Points: 25 More actions · Answer 8

Thank you! That worked but I do not see why it didn't work the first time... brain damage on my part, very definitely. Problem solved, I appreciate it!

SQL Surfer '66 SSCertifiable Points: 5161 More actions · Answer 9

GilaMonster (8/14/2013)
I usually use UltraEdit for it's ability to automatically reload the file on change.

Notepad++ can also reload files on change: File Status Auto-Detection

Ed Wagner SSC Guru Points: 287026 More actions · Answer 10

Gail - I didn't think anyone on planet earth had a version of UltraEdit as old as mine, but you do. I used the 11.0a from 2005 for years and I just recently (this year) upgraded to UE Studio 13.10. I'm pleased to report that they've fixed the bug in the Find/Replace dialog. 🙂

I'm not trying to incite a riot here, but it's the best text editor I've found on the market.

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Steve-3_5_7_9 SSChampion Points: 10832 More actions · Answer 11

UltraEdit is awesome! It works great on large files making work a bit more simpler.

I wanted to add, that I use it to verify TDE (transparent data encryption), too.

Steve

bleroy Hall of Fame Points: 3052 More actions · Answer 12

TextPad for me ... most favourite of all - reloads on change, allows for searching in multiple files, special characters, HEX display format for binary files, etc etc