An access log is a text file containing a full report on all the files accessed by your Internet site visitors. All the files which were requested in one way or another will be included, so when you have a PHP script program and a website visitor opens only the home page, for example, you might find plenty of files inside the log. This is because there are things on the home page which are embedded - parts of other web pages, images, etc. All of these files will be listed in the access log, allowing you to get a full picture of the way your Internet site functions. The info is in plain text format, so the logs are occasionally called "raw data" as well. An access log contains the name of each requested file, the path to it, the date it was accessed, as well as the user’s IP address, world-wide web browser and Operating System. More info, such as the referrer Internet site, is typically provided too. A log file can be processed by various desktop applications for statistical purposes as an addition to the web stats provided by your server.