FileReader.readAsText()

The readAsText method is used to read the contents of the specified Blob or File. When the read operation is complete, the readyState is changed to DONE, the loadend is triggered, and the result attribute contains the contents of the file as a text string.

Syntax

instanceOfFileReader.readAsText(blob[, encoding]);

Parameters

blob
The Blob or File from which to read.
encoding Optional
A string specifying the encoding to use for the returned data. By default, UTF-8 is assumed if this parameter is not specified.

Specifications

Specification Status Comment
File API
The definition of 'FileReader' in that specification.
Working Draft Initial definition

Browser compatibility

Feature Firefox (Gecko) Chrome Edge Internet Explorer Opera Safari
Basic support 3.6 (1.9.2)[1] 7 (Yes) 10[2] 12.02[3] 6.0.2
Feature Firefox Mobile (Gecko) Android Edge IE Mobile Opera Mobile Safari Mobile
Basic support 32 3 (Yes) 10 11.5 6.1

[1] Prior to Gecko 2.0 beta 7 (Firefox 4.0 beta 7), all Blob parameters below were File parameters; this has since been updated to match the specification correctly. Prior to Gecko 13.0 (Firefox 13.0 / Thunderbird 13.0 / SeaMonkey 2.10) the FileReader.error property returned a FileError object. This interface has been removed and FileReader.error is now returning the DOMError object as defined in the latest FileAPI draft.

[2] IE9 has a File API Lab.

[3] Opera has partial support in 11.1.

See also

Document Tags and Contributors

 Contributors to this page: erikadoyle, ziyunfei, NumerHero, Sebastianz, teoli, hanna, dhritzkiv, Jeremie, dabus
 Last updated by: erikadoyle,