File.ReadAllText(String, Encoding) Method in C# with Examples Last Updated : 28 Apr, 2025 Comments Improve Suggest changes Like Article Like Report File.ReadAllText(String, Encoding) is an inbuilt File class method that is used to open a text file then reads all the text in the file with the specified encoding and then closes the file.Syntax: public static string ReadAllText (string path, System.Text.Encoding encoding); Parameter: This function accepts a parameter which is illustrated below: path: This is the specified file to open for reading.encoding: This is applied to the contents of the file. Exceptions: ArgumentException: The path is a zero-length string, contains only white space, or one or more invalid characters as defined by InvalidPathChars.ArgumentNullException: The path is null.PathTooLongException: The specified path, file name, or both exceed the system-defined maximum length.DirectoryNotFoundException: The specified path is invalid.IOException: An I/O error occurred while opening the file.UnauthorizedAccessException: The path specified a file that is read-only. OR this operation is not supported on the current platform. OR the path specified a directory. OR the caller does not have the required permission.FileNotFoundException: The file specified in the path was not found.NotSupportedException: The path is in an invalid format.SecurityException: The caller does not have the required permission. Return Value: Returns a string containing all the text in the file.Below are the programs to illustrate the File.ReadAllText(String, Encoding) method.Program 1: Initially, a file file.txt is created with some contents shown below- C# // C# program to illustrate the usage // of File.ReadAllText(String, Encoding) method // Using System, System.IO and // System.Text namespaces using System; using System.IO; using System.Text; class GFG { public static void Main() { // Specifying a file string path = @"file.txt"; // Calling the ReadAllText(String, Encoding) // function string readText = File.ReadAllText(path, Encoding.UTF8); // Printing the file contents Console.WriteLine(readText); } } Output: GFG gfg Geeks GeeksforGeeks geeksforgeeks Program 2: Initially, no file was created. Below code itself create a file file.txt with some specified contents. C# // C# program to illustrate the usage // of File.ReadAllText(String, Encoding) method // Using System, System.IO and // System.Text namespaces using System; using System.IO; using System.Text; class GFG { public static void Main() { // Specifying a file string path = @"file.txt"; // Adding below contents to the file string[] createText = { "GFG", "is a", "CS", "portal" }; File.WriteAllLines(path, createText, Encoding.UTF8); // Calling the ReadAllText() function string readText = File.ReadAllText(path, Encoding.UTF8); // Printing the file contents Console.WriteLine(readText); } } Output: GFG is a CS portal Comment More infoAdvertise with us Next Article File.ReadAllText(String, Encoding) Method in C# with Examples K Kanchan_Ray Follow Improve Article Tags : C# CSharp-File-Handling Similar Reads File.ReadAllLines(String, Encoding) Method in C# with Examples File.ReadAllLines(String, Encoding) is an inbuilt File class method that is used to open a text file then reads all lines of the file into a string array with the specified encoding and then closes the file.Syntax:  public static string[] ReadAllLines (string path, System.Text.Encoding encoding); P 3 min read File.ReadLines(String, Encoding) Method in C# with Examples File.ReadLines(String, Encoding) is an inbuilt File class method that is used to read the lines of a file that has a specified encoding. Syntax: public static System.Collections.Generic.IEnumerable ReadLines (string path, System.Text.Encoding encoding); Parameter: This function accepts two parameter 2 min read File.ReadAllText(String) Method in C# with Examples File.ReadAllText(String) is an inbuilt File class method that is used to open a text file then reads all the text in the file and then closes the file.Syntax:  public static string ReadAllText (string path); Parameter: This function accepts a parameter which is illustrated below:  path: This is th 2 min read File.ReadAllLines(String) Method in C# with Examples File.ReadAllLines(String) is an inbuilt File class method that is used to open a text file then reads all lines of the file into a string array and then closes the file.Syntax:  public static string[] ReadAllLines (string path); Parameter: This function accepts a parameter which is illustrated belo 2 min read File.ReadLines(String) Method in C# with Examples File.ReadLines(String) is an inbuilt File class method that is used to read the lines of a file. Syntax: public static System.Collections.Generic.IEnumerable ReadLines (string path); Parameter: This function accepts a parameter which is illustrated below: path: This is the specified file for reading 2 min read File.ReadAllBytes() Method in C# with Examples File.ReadAllBytes(String) is an inbuilt File class method that is used to open a specified or created binary file and then reads the contents of the file into a byte array and then closes the file.Syntax:  public static byte[] ReadAllBytes (string path); Parameter: This function accepts a parameter 2 min read File.Copy(String, String) Method in C# with Examples File.Copy(String, String) is an inbuilt File class method that is used to copy the content of the existing source file content to another destination file which is created by this function. Syntax:  public static void Copy (string sourceFileName, string destFileName); Parameter: This function acce 3 min read File.WriteAllText(String, String, Encoding) Method in C# with Examples File.WriteAllText(String, String, Encoding) is an inbuilt File class method that is used to create a new file, writes the specified string to the file using the specified encoding, and then closes the file. If the target file already exists, it is overwritten. Syntax: public static void WriteAllText 3 min read File.WriteAllLines(String, String[], Encoding) Method in C# with Examples File.WriteAllLines(String, String[], Encoding) is an inbuilt File class method that is used to create a new file, writes the specified string array to the file by using the specified encoding, and then closes the file.Syntax: public static void WriteAllLines (string path, string[] contents, System. 3 min read File.AppendAllText(String, String, Encoding) Method in C# with Examples File.AppendAllText(String, String, Encoding) is an inbuilt File class method which is used to append the specified string to the given file using the specified encoding if that file exists else creates a new file and then appending is done. Syntax:  public static void AppendAllText (string path, s 3 min read Like