Read a local file

Question

Is there no way for javascript hosted on a webserver to read a file on a client's local machine? (this has obvious security risks). I guess I'm wondering if there's any access granting a user can do, like drag and dropping a file into the browser, or explicitly selecting a file from a popup to get around this?

I know flash 10 allows reading of a local file, just wondering if there were any method to do this in javascript.

Thanks

possible duplicate of http://stackoverflow.com/questions/585234/how-to-read-and-write-into-file-using-javascript — Georg Fritzsche, Apr 03 '10 at 06:51

score 2 · Answer 1 · answered Apr 03 '10 at 06:31

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Who on their right mind would release a browser that let JS to... oh wait, you can with activeX, but only works with IE.

answered Apr 03 '10 at 06:31

Ben

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More specifically, it's the Scripting.FileSystemObject ActiveX Object that lets you do this. – Matt Apr 03 '10 at 09:47

score 2 · Accepted Answer · answered Apr 03 '10 at 08:35

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... or explicitly selecting a file from a popup to get around this ...

You could of course just upload the file to your server then...

answered Apr 03 '10 at 08:35

ChristopheD

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score 2 · Answer 3 · answered Apr 03 '10 at 09:44

There is new File API being a working draft in W3C, and it is already implemented in Firefox 3.6, see

http://demos.hacks.mozilla.org/openweb/FileAPI/
http://ajaxian.com/archives/w3c-publish-first-working-draft-of-file-api
http://hacks.mozilla.org/2009/12/w3c-fileapi-in-firefox-3-6/

score 1 · Answer 4 · edited May 23 '17 at 10:27

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Nope, that's not possible...

However, see this:

http://www.mozilla.org/js/js-file-object.html

edited May 23 '17 at 10:27

Community

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answered Apr 03 '10 at 06:31

Sarfraz

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Read a local file

4 Answers4

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