Dart:
Reading a text file

How to:

Dart’s core library, dart:io, provides the necessary functionalities to read text files synchronously or asynchronously. Here’s how to approach both.

Synchronously:

import 'dart:io';

void main() {
  var fileName = "path/to/your/textfile.txt";
  var file = File(fileName);

  // Reading the file synchronously
  var contents;
  try {
    contents = file.readAsStringSync();
    print(contents);
  } catch (e) {
    print('Error reading file: $e');
  }
}

Asynchronously:

To avoid blocking the program while the file is being read, especially useful for large files or responsive applications:

import 'dart:io';

void main() async {
  var fileName = "path/to/your/textfile.txt";
  var file = File(fileName);

  try {
    String contents = await file.readAsString();
    print(contents);
  } catch (e) {
    print('Error reading file: $e');
  }
}

Sample Output:

If your text file contains:

Hello, Dart!

Both of the above methods will output:

Hello, Dart!

Using a Third-Party Library:

For additional features like simplified file operations or enhanced error handling, you might consider third-party libraries such as package:file. However, as of my last update, using the core dart:io package directly, as shown above, is the most common and straightforward method for reading text files in Dart.