# readFile

Read a UTF-8 text file.

```js
readFile(path)
```

## Arguments

| Argument | Type | Meaning |
| --- | --- | --- |
| `path` | string | Prefer an absolute path. |

## Returns

Text string, or null on failure.

## Example

```js
const text = readFile(__dirname + "/config.json");
if (text === null) throw new Error("Cannot read config");
console.log(JSON.parse(text));
```

## Notes

Native file helpers do not resolve relative paths like require(); use __dirname or scriptsDir().

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