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cftrace

Last update:
May 18, 2026

Description

Displays and logs debugging data about the state of an application at the time the cftrace tag executes. Tracks run-time logic flow, variable values, and execution time. Displays output at the end of the request or in the debugging section at the end of the request; or, in Dreamweaver MX and later, in the Server Debug tab of the Results window. ColdFusion logs cftrace output to the file logs\cftrace.log, in the ColdFusion installation directory.
Note:
To permit this tag to execute, enable debugging in the ColdFusion Administrator. Optionally, to report trace summaries, enable the Trace section

Category

Debugging tags, Variable manipulation tags

Syntax

var = "variable name"
text = "string"
type = "format"
category = "string"
inline = "yes|no"
abort = "yes|no">
</cftrace>
Note:
You can specify this tag's attributes in an attributeCollection attribute whose value is a structure. Specify the structure name in the attributeCollection attribute and use the tag's attribute names as structure keys.

See also

cfdump, cferror, cfrethrow, cftimer, cftry; Debugging and Troubleshooting Applications in the Developing ColdFusion Applications

History

ColdFusion MX: Added this tag.

Attributes

Attribute
Req/Opt
Default
Description
abort
Optional
no
  • yes: calls a cfabort tag when the tag is executed.
  • no
category
Optional
User-defined string that identifies trace groups.
inline
Optional
no
  • yes: displays trace code inline on the page in the location of the cftrace tag, in addition to the debugging information output.
  • no
text
Optional
User-defined string, which can include simple variables, but not complex variables such as arrays. Outputs to the cflog text attribute.
type
Optional
Information
Corresponds to the cflog type attribute; displays an appropriate icon:
  • Information
  • Warning
  • Error
  • Fatal Information
var
Optional
The name of a simple or complex variable to display. Useful for displaying a temporary value, or a value that does not display on any CFM page.

Usage

You cannot put application code within this tag. (This avoids problems that can occur if you disable debugging.) This tag is useful for debugging CFML code during application development. You can display cftrace tag output in the following ways:
  • As a section in the debugging output
  • Inline in an application page, and as a section in debugging output. If you specify inline tracing, ColdFusion flushes all output up to the cftrace tag, and displays the trace output when it encounters the tag.

    The following is an example of a log file entry:
    "Information","web-4","04/08/02","23:21:30", ,"[30 ms (1st trace)]

    [C:\CFusion\wwwroot\generic.cfm @ line: 9] -

    [thisPage = /generic.cfm]"

    "Information","web-0","04/08/02","23:58:58", ,"[5187 ms (10)]

    [C:\CFusion\wwwroot\generic.cfm @ line: 14] - [category]

    [thisPage = /generic.cfm] [ABORTED] thisPage "
    For a complex variable, ColdFusion lists the variable name and the number of elements in the object; it does not log the contents of the variable.

Example

The following example traces a FORM variable that is evaluated by a cfif block:
<cftrace var="FORM.variable"
text="doing equivalency check for FORM.variable"
category="form_vars"
inline="true">
<cfif isDefined("FORM.variable") AND FORM.variable EQ 1>
<h1>Congratulations, you're a winner!</h1>
<cfelse>
<h1>Sorry, you lost!</h1>
</cfif>

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