How to read a local text file?

Question

I’m trying to write a simple text file reader by creating a function that takes in the file’s path and converts each line of text into a char array, but it’s not working.

Answer 1

Modern solution:

Use fileOrBlob.text() as follows:

When user uploads a text file via that input, it will be logged to the console. Here's a working jsbin demo.

Here's a more verbose version:

Currently (January 2020) this only works in Chrome and Firefox, check here for compatibility if you're reading this in the future: https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/API/Blob/text

On older browsers, this should work:

---

Related: As of September 2020 the new Native File System API available in Chrome and Edge in case you want permanent read-access (and even write access) to the user-selected file.