diff --git a/examples/to_stdout.py b/examples/to_stdout.py
index a65be63..c3739ec 100644
--- a/examples/to_stdout.py
+++ b/examples/to_stdout.py
@@ -4,15 +4,19 @@
 import logging
 logging.basicConfig(level=logging.WARNING)
 import hpfeeds
+outstream = sys.stdout
 
 def main():
     if len(sys.argv) < 5:
-        print >> sys.stderr, "Usage: python %s <host> <port> <ident> <secret> <channel,channel2,channel3,...>"%(sys.argv[0])
+        print >> sys.stderr, "Usage: python %s <host> <port> <ident> <secret> <channel,channel2,channel3,...> [logfile]"%(sys.argv[0])
         sys.exit(1)
 
     HOST, PORT, IDENT, SECRET, CHANNELS = [arg.encode("utf-8") for arg in sys.argv[1:6]]
     CHANNELS = CHANNELS.split(",")
     PORT = int(PORT)
+    
+    if len(sys.argv) > 6:
+        outstream = open(sys.argv[6], "a")
 
     hpc = hpfeeds.new(HOST, PORT, IDENT, SECRET)
     print >>sys.stderr, 'connected to', hpc.brokername
@@ -20,19 +24,23 @@ def main():
     def on_message(identifier, channel, payload):
         try:
             payload = str(payload).strip()
-            print "ident=%s, channel=%s, payload='%s'"%(identifier, channel, payload)
+            print >>outstream, "ident=%s, channel=%s, payload=%s"%(identifier, channel, payload)
         except Exception, e:
-            print "Error", e
+            print >> sys.stderr, "Error", e
 
     def on_error(payload):
         print >>sys.stderr, ' -> errormessage from server: {0}'.format(payload)
         hpc.stop()
+        outstream.close()
 
     hpc.subscribe(CHANNELS)
     hpc.run(on_message, on_error)
     hpc.close()
+    outstream.close()
     return 0
 
 if __name__ == '__main__':
     try: sys.exit(main())
-    except KeyboardInterrupt:sys.exit(0)
+    except KeyboardInterrupt:
+        outstream.close()
+        sys.exit(0)