Add a Line Break/Blank Line After Log Statements in Java

1. Overview

If we’ve ever stared at a wall of log output trying to figure out what went wrong, we’re not alone. Logs are supposed to make our lives easier, but they can quickly become overwhelming, especially when there’s no visual breathing room between entries.

One small but powerful tweak we can make is adding a blank line after log statements. It sounds trivial, but it can significantly improve log readability, especially when we’re debugging complex issues.

In this tutorial, we’ll explore a few practical ways to do this in Java and when each approach makes sense.

2. The Quick Fix: Log an Empty String

If we’re using a logging framework like SLF4J, Logback, or Log4j, the simplest approach is just to log an empty line:

public class LogLineBreakDemo {
    private static final Logger logger = LoggerFactory.getLogger(LogLineBreakDemo.class);

    public static void main(String[] args) {
        logger.info("Start process");
        logger.info("");
    }
}

Here is the output for this code:

2025-05-14 10:30:00 INFO  LogLineBreakDemo - Start process
2025-05-14 10:30:00 INFO  LogLineBreakDemo - 

This approach works, but it comes with a caveat. The blank line still gets a timestamp and log level:

2025-05-14 10:30:00 INFO  LogLineBreakDemo -

It clutters our logs, but there are cleaner alternatives. Let’s see them.

3. Using System.lineSeparator()

This is a platform-independent and elegant way to add a line break directly in our log message:

public class LogLineBreakDemo {
    private static final Logger logger = LoggerFactory.getLogger(LogLineBreakDemo.class);

    public static void main(String[] args) {
        logger.info("Processing done{}", System.lineSeparator());
        logger.info("Processing done" + System.lineSeparator());
    }
}

There are two ways to use the System.lineSeparator():

logger.info("Processing done{}", System.lineSeparator());

logger.info("Processing done" + System.lineSeparator());

Both log our message, followed by a newline, without needing an extra empty log call:

2025-05-14 10:30:00 INFO LogLineBreakDemo - Processing done

2025-05-14 10:30:00 INFO LogLineBreakDemo - Processing done

But here is a question: why can’t we use \n? We could use \n, but it’s Unix-specific. On Windows, line breaks are \r\n. By using System.lineSeparator(), we ensure our logs format correctly no matter where our code runs.

4. Using System.getProperty(“line.separator”)

It works the same as previous approach:

public class LogLineBreakDemo {
    private static final Logger logger = LoggerFactory.getLogger(LogLineBreakDemo.class);

    public static void main(String[] args) {
        String newline = System.getProperty("line.separator");

        logger.info("Processing started" + newline);
        logger.info("Processing ended");
    }
}

Let’s look at the ouput:

2025-05-14 10:45:00 INFO LogLineBreakDemo - Processing started

2025-05-14 10:45:00 INFO LogLineBreakDemo - Processing ended

But System.lineSeparator() is shorter, clearer, and preferred since Java 7.

5. Global Blank Line in Log Format

If we want every log entry to be followed by a blank line, the cleanest way is to configure it at the logging framework level using a custom log pattern.

If we’re using SLF4J with Logback, which is the default in Spring Boot, we need to update our logback.xml file:

<configuration>
    <appender name="CONSOLE" class="ch.qos.logback.core.ConsoleAppender">
        <encoder>
            <!-- Adds a blank line after each log message -->
            <pattern>%d{HH:mm:ss.SSS} [%thread] %-5level %logger{36} - %msg%n%n</pattern>
        </encoder>
    </appender>

    <root level="info">
        <appender-ref ref="CONSOLE" />
    </root>
</configuration>

If we’re using SLF4J with Log4j2, here’s how we’d update log4j2.xml:

<Configuration status="WARN">
    <Appenders>
        <Console name="Console" target="SYSTEM_OUT">
            <PatternLayout pattern="%d{HH:mm:ss.SSS} [%t] %-5level %logger{36} - %msg%n%n"/>
        </Console>
    </Appenders>
    <Loggers>
        <Root level="info">
            <AppenderRef ref="Console"/>
        </Root>
    </Loggers>
</Configuration>

To insert a blank line after every log message, we modify both logback.xml and log4j2.xml by updating the log pattern layout to include two line breaks using %n%n.

In logback.xml, we change the pattern inside the <encoder> element to end with %msg%n%n.

Similarly, in log4j2.xml, we also update the <PatternLayout> pattern attribute to include %msg%n%n.

The %n symbol inserts a platform-independent newline character using the system line separator under the hood, and repeating it twice results in an extra blank line between log entries. This small change improves log readability, especially in the console or log files, by visually separating each log message, making it easier to scan or debug.

6. Using System.out.println() for a Blank Line

We can always throw in a System.out.println() to create a blank line. But mixing System.out with logging frameworks like SLF4J or Log4j is generally a bad idea. This isn’t recommended. Here are a few reasons to address this point:

• It doesn’t go through our logging pipeline
• We lose timestamp, log level, and structured log benefits
• It’s harder to trace and aggregate logs in production

While we can use it for quick debugging if we require, we should avoid it in real code.

7. Conclusion

In this article, we explored various ways to add a line break in different logger libraries. Adding a line break after log statements is a small touch, but that can make a big difference. It helps visually separate events, making logs more digestible, especially when we’re knee-deep in production debugging.