ex : log4j.appender.console=org.apache.log4j.ConsoleAppender log4j.appender.console.immediateFlush=true log4j.appender.console.target=System.out log4j.appender.console.layout=org.apache.log4j.PatternLayout log4j.appender.console.layout.conversionPattern=%c;%p;%t;%d;%m%n If I decide to rename the property "log4j.appender.console" to "log4j.appender.myAppender" it does not rename all the following ones. It could allow enlarging the scope of the renaming, probably best achieved using the confirmation window