Log output in syslog format

logMessage.sh

LOG_FILE="/var/log/$(basename $0 .sh).log"
logMessage() {
	COMMAND="$*"
	
	sh -c "${COMMAND} | awk '{
		\"echo \\\"$(date +%b\ %e\ %T) $(hostname) $(basename $0)[$$]:\\\"\"|getline timestamp;
		close(\"echo \\\"$(date +%b\ %e\ %T) $(hostname) $(basename $0)[$$]:\\\"\");
		printf(\"%s %s\n\", timestamp, \$0)
	}'"
}
[ ! -e $LOG_FILE ] && touch $LOG_FILE && logMessage echo "Starting $(basename $0)..." > $LOG_FILE