File contents not being read in nodejs program

Question

I have a file temp.js that contains text as below:

module.config = {
  key1 : 'value1',
  key2 : 'value2',
  key3 : ['abc','def']

}

I am reading the file as below:

fs.readFile('/temp.js', function(err,fileContents) {
   console.log(fileContents);
});

on the output I am getting values as below:

<Buffer 6d 6f .....
...>

What am i missing here ?

Answer 1

If no encoding is specified, then the raw buffer is returned.

Therefore, if you want a string passed to your callback, specify the encoding of the file. Example:

fs.readFile('/temp.js', {encoding: 'utf8'}, function(err, fileContents) {
   console.log(fileContents);
});

Answer 2

The file is being read but as Buffer. To read it as string you've to tell fs the encoding.

Try this

require('fs').readFile('/temp.js','utf-8', function(err,fileContents) {
   console.log(fileContents);
});