How Do I Read the Input Html File Data
Read files in JavaScript
How to select files, read file metadata and content, and monitor read progress.
— Updated
Being able to select and collaborate with files on the user's local device is one of the well-nigh commonly used features of the web. It allows users to select files and upload them to a server, for example, uploading photos, or submitting tax documents, etc. Only, it too allows sites to read and manipulate them without always having to transfer the data beyond the network.
The modernistic File Organisation Access API #
The File System Access API provides an easy way to both read and write to files and directories on the user'southward local system. It's currently available in most Chromium-derived browsers like Chrome or Edge. To learn more about it, see the File Organization Access API article.
Since the File System Access API is not uniform with all browsers yet, check out browser-fs-admission, a helper library that uses the new API wherever it is bachelor, but falls back to legacy approaches when it is not.
Working with files, the classic mode #
This guide shows you how to:
- Select files
- Using the HTML input element
- Using a drag-and-drop zone
- Read file metadata
- Read a file's content
Select files #
HTML input element #
The easiest way to let users to select files is using the <input type="file">
element, which is supported in every major browser. When clicked, information technology lets a user select a file, or multiple files if the multiple
attribute is included, using their operating arrangement's born file option UI. When the user finishes selecting a file or files, the chemical element's alter
event is fired. You can admission the list of files from event.target.files
, which is a FileList
object. Each item 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 = document. getElementById ( 'file-selector' ) ;
fileSelector. addEventListener ( 'modify' , ( event ) => {
const fileList = issue.target.files;
panel. log (fileList) ;
} ) ;
</script >
This case lets a user select multiple files using their operating system's built-in file choice UI and then logs each selected file to the console.
Limit the types of files user tin select #
In some cases, you may desire to limit the types of files users can select. For instance, an image editing app should only accept images, not text files. To do that, yous can add together an have
attribute to the input chemical element to specify which files are accepted.
<input type = "file" id = "file-selector" take = ".jpg, .jpeg, .png" >
Custom drag-and-driblet #
In some browsers, the <input type="file">
element is also a drop target, allowing users to drag-and-drop files into your app. But, the drop target is small, and tin can exist hard to use. Instead, once you lot've provided the cadre functionality using an <input type="file">
element, you can provide a big, custom drag-and-drop surface.
Cull your drop zone #
Your drop surface will depend on the design of your application. Yous may only want function of the window to be a drib surface, or potentially the entire window.

Squoosh allows the user to drag-and-drop an image anywhere into the window, and clicking select an paradigm invokes the <input type="file">
element. Whatever you lot choose equally your drop zone, make sure it's articulate to the user that they can drag-and-driblet files onto that surface.
Define the drib zone #
To enable an element to be a elevate-and-drop zone, you'll demand to mind for two events, dragover
and drop
. The dragover
upshot updates the browser UI to visually indicate that the drag-and-drop activity is creating a re-create of the file. The drop
event is fired after the user has dropped the files onto the surface. Like to the input element, you lot tin can access the list of files from issue.dataTransfer.files
, which is a FileList
object. Each item in the FileList
is a File
object.
const dropArea = certificate. getElementById ( 'drop-surface area' ) ; dropArea. addEventListener ( 'dragover' , ( upshot ) => {
event. stopPropagation ( ) ;
event. preventDefault ( ) ;
// Style the drag-and-drop as a "copy file" operation.
result.dataTransfer.dropEffect = 're-create' ;
} ) ;
dropArea. addEventListener ( 'drib' , ( event ) => {
issue. stopPropagation ( ) ;
event. preventDefault ( ) ;
const fileList = event.dataTransfer.files;
console. log (fileList) ;
} ) ;
event.stopPropagation()
and event.preventDefault()
finish the browser's default beliefs from happening, and let your code to run instead. Without them, the browser would otherwise navigate away from your page and open the files the user dropped into the browser window.
Check out Custom drag-and-drib for a alive sit-in.
What about directories? #
Unfortunately, today at that place isn't a good mode to become admission to a directory.
The webkitdirectory
aspect on the <input type="file">
chemical element allows the user to choose a directory or directories. It is supported in some Chromium-based browsers, and maybe desktop Safari, but has conflicting reports of browser compatibility.
If drag-and-drop is enabled, a user may endeavour to drag a directory into the drop zone. When the drop event is fired, it will include a File
object for the directory, but volition be unable to access any of the files within the directory.
The File
object contains a number of metadata properties nigh the file. Nearly browsers provide the file name, the size of the file, and the MIME blazon, though depending on the platform, unlike browsers may provide dissimilar, or boosted information.
function getMetadataForFileList ( fileList ) {
for ( const file of fileList) {
// Not supported in Safari for iOS.
const 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' ;
console. log ( {file, name, type, size} ) ;
}
}
You can meet this in activeness in the input-blazon-file
Glitch demo.
Read a file'southward content #
To read a file, utilize FileReader
, which enables yous to read the content of a File
object into memory. You can instruct FileReader
to read a file equally an array buffer, a information URL, or text.
role readImage ( file ) {
// Check if the file is an image.
if (file.type && !file.type. startsWith ( 'prototype/' ) ) {
console. log ( 'File is not an image.' , file.blazon, file) ;
return ;
} const reader = new FileReader ( ) ;
reader. addEventListener ( 'load' , ( outcome ) => {
img.src = event.target.issue;
} ) ;
reader. readAsDataURL (file) ;
}
The instance higher up reads a File
provided by the user, so converts information technology to a data URL, and uses that information URL to display the image in an img
chemical element. Check out the read-epitome-file
Glitch to see how to verify that the user has selected an prototype file.
Monitor the progress of a file read #
When reading large files, it may be helpful to provide some UX to indicate how far the read has progressed. For that, use the progress
event provided by FileReader
. The progress
event provides two properties, loaded
, the amount read, and full
, the total amount to read.
function readFile ( file ) {
const reader = new FileReader ( ) ;
reader. addEventListener ( 'load' , ( outcome ) => {
const result = event.target.effect;
// Do something with result
} ) ;
reader. addEventListener ( 'progress' , ( event ) => {
if (upshot.loaded && issue.total) {
const pct = (upshot.loaded / event.full) * 100 ;
console. log ( ` Progress: ${Math. round (percent) } ` ) ;
}
} ) ;
reader. readAsDataURL (file) ;
}
Hero image by Vincent Botta from Unsplash
Last updated: — Improve article
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Source: https://web.dev/read-files/
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