---
name: "syslog-summary"
section: "1"
platform: "linux"
package: "syslog-summary"
version: "1.14-2.3"
release: "Debian 13 (Trixie)"
platforms: ["linux"]
url: "https://new.carta.tech/syslog-summary"
---

# syslog-summary(1)

summarize the contents of a syslog log file

## NAME

syslog-summary - summarize the contents of a syslog log file

## SYNOPSIS

**syslog-summary** \[**-s** \| **--state=** *filename*\] \[**-i** \| **--ignore=** *filename*\] \[**-d** \| **--debug**\] \[**-r** \| **--repeat**\] *logfile*...

**syslog-summary** \[**-h** \| **--help**\]

## DESCRIPTION

This manual page documents briefly the **syslog-summary** command.

**syslog-summary** summarizes the contents of log files via the [**syslog**(3)](/syslog/3.md) service, by displaying each unique (except for the time) line once, and also the number of times such a line occurs in the input. The lines are displayed in the order they occur in the input.

## OPTIONS

- **-i** *filename*, **--ignore=***filename*

  Read regular expressions from *filename* and ignore lines in the logfiles that match them.

- **-s** *filename*, **--state=***filename*

  Read state information from *filename*. The state contains information about the already reported parts of a log file, and prevents **syslog-summary** from reporting the same things many times. This is useful when **syslog-summary** is run from **crontab** every hour. The file is created, if it doesn´t exist already.

- **-r**, **--repeat**

  Merge "last message repeated \* times" lines with the repeated event.

- **-d**, **--debug**

  Enable verbose messages when errors occur (i.e. "debug mode").

- **-h**, **--help**

  Show summary of options.

## FILES

*/etc/syslog-summary/ignore.rules*

Default ignore.rules file with default regular expressions.

## DIAGNOSTICS

When reporting a bug, please run **syslog-summary** with the **-d** (or **--debug**) flag enabled.

**syslog-summary** provides some return codes, that can be used in scripts:

| | |
| --- | --- |
| *Code* | *Diagnostic* |
| **0** | Program exited successfully. |
| **1** | Something went wrong, please run the program with the debug messages enabled. |

## AUTHORS

**Lars Wirzenius** \<liw@iki.fi\>

-

  Wrote this manpage for the Debian system.

-

  Wrote the first version of syslog-summary.

-

  Maintained the Debian package from 1998 to 2000.

**Tommi Virtanen** \<tv@debian.org\>

-

  Maintained the package from 2001 to early 2008.

**David Paleino** \<d.paleino@gmail.com\>

-

  Maintains the package since early 2008.

## COPYRIGHT

Copyright © 2008 David Paleino\
 Copyright © 2001-2007 Tommi Virtanen\
 Copyright © 1998-2000 Lars Wirzenius\

This manual page was written for the Debian system (but may be used by others).

Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this document under the terms of the GNU General Public License, Version 3 or (at your option) any later version published by the Free Software Foundation.

On Debian systems, the complete text of the GNU General Public License can be found in */usr/share/common-licenses/GPL*.