private boolean hasNegWord(String levelName, String inputLevels) {
        int pos = inputLevels.indexOf(levelName.toLowerCase());
        if (pos > 0) {
            String c = inputLevels.substring(pos - 1, pos);
            return (c != null && c.equals("-"));
        } else {
            return false;
        }
    }
a levelcontroller that just implements a simple default
(possibly controlled by a system property or environment)
Should only be used internally in the log library
vespalog/src/main/java/com/yahoo/log/DefaultLevelController.java