I appreciate the help and I know about the documentation. I have been reading all that I can and trying to implement what is being discussed. Clearly, I am not understanding something and I would like some specific code direction.

I took the advice and tried to use the init() method. Here is my attempt:

use Log::Log4perl;

sub init()
{
    my %log_conf = (
        "log4perl.logger.STDOUT"          => "DEBUG, STDOUT",
        "log4perl.logger.FILE"            => "DEBUG, FILE",
        
        "log4perl.appender.STDOUT"        => "Log::Log4perl::Appender:
+:Screen",
        "log4perl.appender.STDOUT.stderr" => "0",
        "log4perl.appender.STDOUT.layout" => "Log::Log4perl::Layout::P
+atternLayout",
        "log4perl.appender.STDOUT.layout.ConversionPattern" => "%d %p>
+ %F{1}:%L %M - %m%n",
        
        "log4perl.appender.FILE"          => "Log::Log4perl::Appender:
+:File",
        "log4perl.appender.FILE.filename" => "test.log",
        "log4perl.appender.FILE.mode"     => "append",
        "log4perl.appender.FILE.layout"   => "Log::Log4perl::Layout::P
+atternLayout",
        "log4perl.appender.FILE.layout.ConversionPattern" => "%d %p> %
+F{1}:%L %M - %m%n"
    );
    
    Log::Log4perl->init(\%log_conf);
}

sub getLogger
{
    my ($category) = @_;
        
    my $logger = Log::Log4perl->get_logger($category);
        
    return $logger;
}

sub modify_logger
{
    my ($level) = @_;
    
    Log::Log4perl->appender_by_name('FILE')->{min_level} = $level;
    Log::Log4perl->appender_by_name('FILE')->{filename} = "file2.log";
    ${Log::Log4perl::Logger::APPENDER_BY_NAME{'FILE'}}->{min_level} = 
+$level;
    ${Log::Log4perl::Logger::APPENDER_BY_NAME{'FILE'}}->{filename} = "
+test2.log";
    my $logger_appender = ${Log::Log4perl::Logger::APPENDER_BY_NAME{'F
+ILE'}};
    my $appenders = Log::Log4perl->appenders();
    my $appender = Log::Log4perl->appender_by_name('FILE');
    print;
}

init();

modify_logger('TRACE');

my $stdout_logger = getLogger(STDOUT);
$stdout_logger->trace("testing stdout logger");

my $file_logger = getLogger(FILE);
$file_logger->trace("testing file logger");

print
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I can query and modify the appenders in the modify_logger() function (I can see the changes in my debugger), but the logging behavior does not change. How can I change the values AND the behavior?

I have been banging my head against this problem and I could really use some specific help.

Thank you

While I am unfamiliar with Log4perl, I can guess that there is probably some action you must take to cause the output file to be reopened before a change to the output filename will be effective.

Is there some kind of "rotate logs" operation in Log4perl?

After alot of searching, I found this:

http://log4perl.sourceforge.net/releases/Log-Log4perl/docs/html/Log/Log4perl/Appender/File.html

So, for the next person who runs into this issue. This is how you change the file in an appender at run time:

Log::Log4perl->appender_by_name('FILE')->file_switch('test2.log');
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