function

fs.readFileSync

function readFileSync<T extends ArrayBufferView<ArrayBufferLike>>(
path: PathOrFileDescriptor,
options: ReadFileSyncOptionsWithBuffer<T>
): BufferView<T>;

Returns the contents of the path.

For detailed information, see the documentation of the asynchronous version of this API: fs.readFile().

If the encoding option is specified then this function returns a string. Otherwise it returns a buffer.

If buffer is provided and no encoding is specified, the returned {Buffer} is a view over the supplied buffer containing only the bytes read. If the supplied buffer is too small to contain the entire file, an error will be thrown.

Similar to fs.readFile(), when the path is a directory, the behavior of fs.readFileSync() is platform-specific.

import { readFileSync } from 'node:fs';

// macOS, Linux, and Windows
readFileSync('<directory>');
// => [Error: EISDIR: illegal operation on a directory, read <directory>]

//  FreeBSD
readFileSync('<directory>'); // => <data>
@param path

filename or file descriptor

function readFileSync(
path: PathOrFileDescriptor,
options?: null | ReadFileSyncOptionsWithBufferEncoding
): NonSharedBuffer;

Returns the contents of the path.

For detailed information, see the documentation of the asynchronous version of this API: fs.readFile().

If the encoding option is specified then this function returns a string. Otherwise it returns a buffer.

If buffer is provided and no encoding is specified, the returned {Buffer} is a view over the supplied buffer containing only the bytes read. If the supplied buffer is too small to contain the entire file, an error will be thrown.

Similar to fs.readFile(), when the path is a directory, the behavior of fs.readFileSync() is platform-specific.

import { readFileSync } from 'node:fs';

// macOS, Linux, and Windows
readFileSync('<directory>');
// => [Error: EISDIR: illegal operation on a directory, read <directory>]

//  FreeBSD
readFileSync('<directory>'); // => <data>
@param path

filename or file descriptor

function readFileSync(
path: PathOrFileDescriptor,
options: BufferEncoding | ReadFileSyncOptionsWithStringEncoding
): string;

Returns the contents of the path.

For detailed information, see the documentation of the asynchronous version of this API: fs.readFile().

If the encoding option is specified then this function returns a string. Otherwise it returns a buffer.

If buffer is provided and no encoding is specified, the returned {Buffer} is a view over the supplied buffer containing only the bytes read. If the supplied buffer is too small to contain the entire file, an error will be thrown.

Similar to fs.readFile(), when the path is a directory, the behavior of fs.readFileSync() is platform-specific.

import { readFileSync } from 'node:fs';

// macOS, Linux, and Windows
readFileSync('<directory>');
// => [Error: EISDIR: illegal operation on a directory, read <directory>]

//  FreeBSD
readFileSync('<directory>'); // => <data>
@param path

filename or file descriptor

function readFileSync(
path: PathOrFileDescriptor,
options: ReadFileSyncOptions
): string | NonSharedBuffer;

Returns the contents of the path.

For detailed information, see the documentation of the asynchronous version of this API: fs.readFile().

If the encoding option is specified then this function returns a string. Otherwise it returns a buffer.

If buffer is provided and no encoding is specified, the returned {Buffer} is a view over the supplied buffer containing only the bytes read. If the supplied buffer is too small to contain the entire file, an error will be thrown.

Similar to fs.readFile(), when the path is a directory, the behavior of fs.readFileSync() is platform-specific.

import { readFileSync } from 'node:fs';

// macOS, Linux, and Windows
readFileSync('<directory>');
// => [Error: EISDIR: illegal operation on a directory, read <directory>]

//  FreeBSD
readFileSync('<directory>'); // => <data>
@param path

filename or file descriptor

Referenced types

interface ReadFileSyncOptionsWithBuffer<T extends NodeJS.ArrayBufferView>

interface ReadFileSyncOptions