How does one intercept System.out.println stream.

Question

If you want some functionality wherein when you call System.out.println - the stream gets written to System.out AND additionally does something else (e.g. send mail).
AND
You do not want to write a new class/method to do so and replace all System.out.println in your source base with this new class/method;
Then how would you be able to achieve this. Thanks in advance.

Answer 1

Here is the basic code, you may need to tune performance. I havent compiler or tested it, but it should give you a good idea.
public class OutputStreamCollection extends OutputStream{
private OutputStream[] outs = new OutputStream[0];
public synchronized void addOutputStream(OutputStream argOut) {
OutputStream[] old = outs;
outs = new OuputStream[old.length + 1];
System.arraycopy(old,0,outs,0, old.length);
outs[outs.length - 1] = argOut;
public syncrhonized void write(int data) {
for(int i = 0; i < outs.length; i++) {
outs.write();
public synchronized void write(byte[] data, int offset, int length) {
for(int i = 0; i < outs.length; i++) {
outs[i].write(data, offset, length);
nor the following code, will print and log to respective files whatever is going to stdout or stderr
OutpputStreamCollection out = new OutputStreamCollection();
out.addOutputStream(System.out);
out.addOutputStream(new FileOutputStream("stdout.log"));
System.setOut(out);
OutpputStreamCollection err = new OutputStreamCollection();
out.addOutputStream(System.err);
out.addOutputStream(new FileOutputStream("stderr.log"));
System.setOut(err);
you can write adapter classes to process the stream in any way you need, like logging with log4J, or sending mail depending on some crieteria.
Hope it helps.