terraform/website/docs/language/functions/file.mdx

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---
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page_title: file - Functions - Configuration Language
description: |-
The file function reads the contents of the file at the given path and
returns them as a string.
---
# `file` Function
`file` reads the contents of a file at the given path and returns them as
a string.
```hcl
file(path)
```
Strings in the Terraform language are sequences of Unicode characters, so
this function will interpret the file contents as UTF-8 encoded text and
return the resulting Unicode characters. If the file contains invalid UTF-8
sequences then this function will produce an error.
This function can be used only with files that already exist on disk
at the beginning of a Terraform run. Functions do not participate in the
dependency graph, so this function cannot be used with files that are generated
dynamically during a Terraform operation. We do not recommend using dynamic
local files in Terraform configurations, but in rare situations where this is
necessary you can use
[the `local_file` data source](https://registry.terraform.io/providers/hashicorp/local/latest/docs/data-sources/file)
to read files while respecting resource dependencies.
## Examples
```
> file("${path.module}/hello.txt")
Hello World
```
## Related Functions
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* [`filebase64`](/language/functions/filebase64) also reads the contents of a given file,
but returns the raw bytes in that file Base64-encoded, rather than
interpreting the contents as UTF-8 text.
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* [`fileexists`](/language/functions/fileexists) determines whether a file exists
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at a given path.
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* [`templatefile`](/language/functions/templatefile) renders using a file from disk as a
template.