How to Read File Path in Javascript

Read files in JavaScript

How to select files, read file metadata and content, and monitor read progress.

— Updated

Pete LePage

Thomas Steiner

Beingness able to select and interact with files on the user'south local device is one of the almost unremarkably used features of the web. It allows users to select files and upload them to a server, for case, uploading photos, or submitting tax documents, etc. Only, it besides allows sites to read and manipulate them without ever having to transfer the data across the network.

The modern File System Admission API #

The File System Access API provides an easy way to both read and write to files and directories on the user's local organization. It's currently available in most Chromium-derived browsers like Chrome or Edge. To acquire more nigh information technology, meet the File Organisation Admission API article.

Since the File System Access API is not compatible with all browsers yet, check out browser-fs-admission, a helper library that uses the new API wherever information technology is available, but falls back to legacy approaches when it is not.

Working with files, the classic style #

This guide shows y'all how to:

  • Select files
    • Using the HTML input element
    • Using a elevate-and-drib zone
  • Read file metadata
  • Read a file's content

Select files #

HTML input element #

The easiest fashion to allow users to select files is using the <input type="file"> element, which is supported in every major browser. When clicked, it lets a user select a file, or multiple files if the multiple attribute is included, using their operating organisation'south built-in file selection UI. When the user finishes selecting a file or files, the chemical element's modify event is fired. You can admission the list of files from event.target.files, which is a FileList object. Each detail in the FileList is a File object.

                          <!-- The `multiple` attribute lets users select multiple files. -->              
<input type = "file" id = "file-selector" multiple >
<script >
const fileSelector = certificate. getElementById ( 'file-selector' ) ;
fileSelector. addEventListener ( 'change' , ( upshot ) => {
const fileList = outcome.target.files;
console. log (fileList) ;
} ) ;
</script >

This example lets a user select multiple files using their operating system's born file choice UI and then logs each selected file to the panel.

Limit the types of files user can select #

In some cases, y'all may want to limit the types of files users can select. For example, an image editing app should only accept images, not text files. To practice that, you can add together an have attribute to the input element to specify which files are accustomed.

                                                            <input                type                                  =                  "file"                                id                                  =                  "file-selector"                                accept                                  =                  ".jpg, .jpeg, .png"                                >                                    

Custom elevate-and-drop #

In some browsers, the <input blazon="file"> element is also a drop target, allowing users to drag-and-drop files into your app. Simply, the drop target is small, and tin can be hard to use. Instead, once yous've provided the core functionality using an <input type="file"> element, y'all can provide a big, custom drag-and-drib surface.

Cull your drop zone #

Your drop surface will depend on the design of your awarding. You may but want part of the window to exist a drop surface, or potentially the unabridged window.

A screenshot of Squoosh, an image compression web app.
Squoosh makes the entire window a drop zone.

Squoosh allows the user to drag-and-driblet an image anywhere into the window, and clicking select an prototype invokes the <input type="file"> element. Any yous choose as your driblet zone, make sure information technology's clear to the user that they can drag-and-drop files onto that surface.

Ascertain the driblet zone #

To enable an element to exist a drag-and-drib zone, you'll need to listen for 2 events, dragover and driblet. The dragover consequence updates the browser UI to visually indicate that the drag-and-driblet action is creating a copy of the file. The drop event is fired after the user has dropped the files onto the surface. Similar to the input chemical element, y'all tin can access the listing of files from event.dataTransfer.files, which is a FileList object. Each item in the FileList is a File object.

                          const              dropArea              =              document.              getElementById              (              'drop-surface area'              )              ;              

dropArea. addEventListener ( 'dragover' , ( outcome ) => {
event. stopPropagation ( ) ;
upshot. preventDefault ( ) ;
// Style the drag-and-drop as a "copy file" operation.
event.dataTransfer.dropEffect = 'copy' ;
} ) ;

dropArea. addEventListener ( 'driblet' , ( outcome ) => {
event. stopPropagation ( ) ;
event. preventDefault ( ) ;
const fileList = event.dataTransfer.files;
console. log (fileList) ;
} ) ;

event.stopPropagation() and event.preventDefault() stop the browser's default behavior from happening, and allow your code to run instead. Without them, the browser would otherwise navigate abroad from your page and open up the files the user dropped into the browser window.

Check out Custom elevate-and-drib for a live demonstration.

What about directories? #

Unfortunately, today there isn't a good way to get access to a directory.

The webkitdirectory attribute on the <input type="file"> element allows the user to choose a directory or directories. Information technology is supported in some Chromium-based browsers, and possibly desktop Safari, merely has conflicting reports of browser compatibility.

If elevate-and-drop is enabled, a user may try to drag a directory into the drop zone. When the drop result is fired, information technology will include a File object for the directory, merely will exist unable to access any of the files within the directory.

The File object contains a number of metadata properties about the file. Near browsers provide the file proper name, the size of the file, and the MIME type, though depending on the platform, different browsers may provide different, or additional data.

                          role              getMetadataForFileList              (              fileList              )              {              
for ( const file of fileList) {
// Not supported in Safari for iOS.
const proper name = file.name ? file.name : 'NOT SUPPORTED' ;
// Not supported in Firefox for Android or Opera for Android.
const type = file.type ? file.type : 'Not SUPPORTED' ;
// Unknown cross-browser support.
const size = file.size ? file.size : 'NOT SUPPORTED' ;
panel. log ( {file, name, type, size} ) ;
}
}

You can see this in activity in the input-type-file Glitch demo.

Read a file's content #

To read a file, utilize FileReader, which enables you to read the content of a File object into retention. Yous can instruct FileReader to read a file every bit an array buffer, a information URL, or text.

                          role              readImage              (              file              )              {              
// Check if the file is an image.
if (file.blazon && !file.type. startsWith ( 'image/' ) ) {
console. log ( 'File is not an image.' , file.blazon, file) ;
return ;
}

const reader = new FileReader ( ) ;
reader. addEventListener ( 'load' , ( event ) => {
img.src = event.target.result;
} ) ;
reader. readAsDataURL (file) ;
}

The case in a higher place reads a File provided by the user, and then converts it to a data URL, and uses that data URL to display the image in an img element. Cheque out the read-image-file Glitch to see how to verify that the user has selected an image file.

Monitor the progress of a file read #

When reading big files, it may exist helpful to provide some UX to signal how far the read has progressed. For that, use the progress event provided by FileReader. The progress issue provides 2 properties, loaded, the amount read, and full, the total amount to read.

                                          function                readFile                (                file                )                {                            
const reader = new FileReader ( ) ;
reader. addEventListener ( 'load' , ( event ) => {
const outcome = event.target.result;
// Do something with upshot
} ) ;

reader. addEventListener ( 'progress' , ( event ) => {
if (issue.loaded && consequence.total) {
const pct = (issue.loaded / consequence.full) * 100 ;
console. log ( ` Progress: ${Math. round (percent) } ` ) ;
}
} ) ;
reader. readAsDataURL (file) ;
}

Hero image by Vincent Botta from Unsplash

Last updated: — Ameliorate article

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Source: https://www.html5rocks.com/en/tutorials/file/dndfiles/

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