github.com/hugorut/terraform@v1.1.3/website/docs/language/functions/file.mdx (about)

     1  ---
     2  page_title: file - Functions - Configuration Language
     3  description: |-
     4    The file function reads the contents of the file at the given path and
     5    returns them as a string.
     6  ---
     7  
     8  # `file` Function
     9  
    10  `file` reads the contents of a file at the given path and returns them as
    11  a string.
    12  
    13  ```hcl
    14  file(path)
    15  ```
    16  
    17  Strings in the Terraform language are sequences of Unicode characters, so
    18  this function will interpret the file contents as UTF-8 encoded text and
    19  return the resulting Unicode characters. If the file contains invalid UTF-8
    20  sequences then this function will produce an error.
    21  
    22  This function can be used only with files that already exist on disk
    23  at the beginning of a Terraform run. Functions do not participate in the
    24  dependency graph, so this function cannot be used with files that are generated
    25  dynamically during a Terraform operation. We do not recommend using dynamic
    26  local files in Terraform configurations, but in rare situations where this is
    27  necessary you can use
    28  [the `local_file` data source](https://registry.terraform.io/providers/hashicorp/local/latest/docs/data-sources/file)
    29  to read files while respecting resource dependencies.
    30  
    31  ## Examples
    32  
    33  ```
    34  > file("${path.module}/hello.txt")
    35  Hello World
    36  ```
    37  
    38  ## Related Functions
    39  
    40  * [`filebase64`](/language/functions/filebase64) also reads the contents of a given file,
    41    but returns the raw bytes in that file Base64-encoded, rather than
    42    interpreting the contents as UTF-8 text.
    43  * [`fileexists`](/language/functions/fileexists) determines whether a file exists
    44    at a given path.
    45  * [`templatefile`](/language/functions/templatefile) renders using a file from disk as a
    46    template.