error_log

Configures logging. Several logs can be specified on the same level (1.5.2). If on the main configuration level writing a log to a file is not explicitly defined, the default file will be used.

The first parameter defines a file that will store the log. The special value stderr selects the standard error file. Logging to syslog can be configured by specifying the “syslog:” prefix. Logging to a cyclic memory buffer can be configured by specifying the “memory:” prefix and buffer size, and is generally used for debugging (1.7.11).

The second parameter determines the level of logging, and can be one of the following: debug, info, notice, warn, error, crit, alert, or emerg. Log levels above are listed in the order of increasing severity. Setting a certain log level will cause all messages of the specified and more severe log levels to be logged. For example, the default level error will cause error, crit, alert, and emerg messages to be logged. If this parameter is omitted then error is used.

For debug logging to work, nginx needs to be built with --with-debug, see “A debugging log”.

The directive can be specified on the stream level starting from version 1.7.11, and on the mail level starting from version 1.9.0.