In a multithreaded Java program, does each thread have its own copy of System.out?

Question

I\'m writing a multithreaded Java program where each thread potentially needs its standard output redirected to a separate file. Each thread would have its own file. Is it p

Answer 1

Is it possible to redirect System.out on a "per-thread" basis

Some developers from Maia Company have provided a public implementation of a PrintStream that provides one "STDOUT" per thread in this article : "Thread Specific System.out".

In their implementation they override only write methods, flush, close and checkError. It seems to be enough in their case.

They did not "need to @Override all of the methods called to get it to work per-thread" as @Gray stated in his answer.

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NOTA:

Please find below the original code from Maia.

I found it here on the wayback machine. The original page was removed from the website of Maia. I reproduce it here for the reader's curiosity. I do not provide any support for this code.

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Main.java

Creates a ThreadPrintStream, installs it as System.out, and creates and starts 10 threads.

public class Main {
  public static void main(String[] args) {
    // Call replaceSystemOut which replaces the
    // normal System.out with a ThreadPrintStream. 
    ThreadPrintStream.replaceSystemOut();

    // Create and start 10 different threads.  Each thread
    // will create its own PrintStream and install it into
    // the ThreadPrintStream and then write three messages
    // to System.out.
    for (int i = 0;  i < 10;  i++) {
      Thread thread = new Thread(new StreamText());
      thread.start();

      // Report to the console that a new thread was started.
      System.out.println("Created and started " + thread.getName());
    }
  }
}

StreamText.java

A simple Runnable for each thread that opens a file for the thread’s output and installs it into the ThreadPrintStream.

import java.io.BufferedOutputStream;
import java.io.FileOutputStream;
import java.io.PrintStream;

/** A small test class that sets System.out for the currently executing
 * thread to a text file and writes three messages to System.out. */
public class StreamText implements Runnable {
  @Override
  public void run() {
    try {
      // Create a text file where System.out.println()
      // will send its data for this thread.
      String name = Thread.currentThread().getName();
      FileOutputStream fos = new FileOutputStream(name + ".txt");

      // Create a PrintStream that will write to the new file.
      PrintStream stream = new PrintStream(new BufferedOutputStream(fos));

      // Install the PrintStream to be used as System.out for this thread.
      ((ThreadPrintStream)System.out).setThreadOut(stream);

      // Output three messages to System.out.
      System.out.println(name + ": first message");
      System.out.println("This is the second message from " + name);
      System.out.println(name + ": 3rd message");

      // Close System.out for this thread which will
      // flush and close this thread's text file.
      System.out.close();
    }
    catch (Exception ex) {
      ex.printStackTrace();
    }
  }
}

ThreadPrintStream.java

Extends java.io.PrintStream. An object of ThreadPrintStream replaces the normal System.out and maintains a separate java.io.PrintStream for each thread.

import java.io.ByteArrayOutputStream;
import java.io.PrintStream;

/** A ThreadPrintStream replaces the normal System.out and ensures
 * that output to System.out goes to a different PrintStream for
 * each thread.  It does this by using ThreadLocal to maintain a
 * PrintStream for each thread. */
public class ThreadPrintStream extends PrintStream {

  /** Changes System.out to a ThreadPrintStream which will
   * send output to a separate file for each thread. */
  public static void replaceSystemOut() {

    // Save the existing System.out
    PrintStream console = System.out;

    // Create a ThreadPrintStream and install it as System.out
    ThreadPrintStream threadOut = new ThreadPrintStream();
    System.setOut(threadOut);

    // Use the original System.out as the current thread's System.out
    threadOut.setThreadOut(console);
  }

  /** Thread specific storage to hold a PrintStream for each thread */
  private ThreadLocal out;

  private ThreadPrintStream() {
    super(new ByteArrayOutputStream(0));
    out = new ThreadLocal();
  }

  /** Sets the PrintStream for the currently executing thread. */
  public void setThreadOut(PrintStream out) {
    this.out.set(out);
  }

  /** Returns the PrintStream for the currently executing thread. */
  public PrintStream getThreadOut() {
    return this.out.get();
  }

  @Override public boolean checkError() {
    return getThreadOut().checkError();
  }

  @Override public void write(byte[] buf, int off, int len) {
    getThreadOut().write(buf, off, len);
  }

  @Override public void write(int b) { getThreadOut().write(b); }

  @Override public void flush() { getThreadOut().flush(); }
  @Override public void close() { getThreadOut().close(); }
}