I decided to work on improving some code (and start using Perl::Critic) to improve my perl-fu. I have become stuck on what seems like a simple issue.

My program has three log-related options: -l allows the user to specify an output log file and -s instead directs the program output to STDOUT instead of to a file. Throughout the program I print various messages to the log to record the progress. -v specifies a 'verbose' mode where more messages are posted.

I started reading the paltry documentation for the FileHandle module and it has left a lot to be desired (even when going behind it to the IO::File and ::Handle modules). Here is what I have come up with so far, but I feel that there is probably a way to simplify this further. 

use FileHandle;
our $LOGFH; #can't figure out a way around using a global var here

if ( $opt_s ) {
    $LOGFH = new_from_fd FileHandle fileno(STDOUT), 'a';
} else {
    $opt_l ||= $DEFAULT_LOG_FILE;
    $LOGFH = new FileHandle $opt_l, 'a';
}
( ! defined $LOGFH ) and croak 'Could not open logfile, aborting.';

autoflush $LOGFH 1;    #autoflush on

$LOGFH->print(scalar localtime, ": running MyProgram.\n") 
    or carp 'Could not print to log.';

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...during execution optional (verbose) messages are posted (sometimes within subroutines, hence the need for a global filehandle):

 $opt_v and $LOGFH->print("$count records were processed.\n")
   or carp 'Could not print to log.';

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...and then, after the program does it's thing: 

if ( !$opt_s ) {
    $LOGFH->print(q{-} x 50, "\n") or carp 'Could not print to log.';
    close $LOGFH or croak "Could not close the logfile: $!";
}

[download]

I have looked at some of the descriptions for the various logging modules on CPAN, and they all seem like overkill for the very basic logging I want to do. My knowledge of perl always grows when I consult the monks, so I am excited to hear any thoughts on the above code snippets and the problem in general, particularly if there is a logging module that is heavily recommended.

In reply to Best method for opening/using a log by automandc

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