read_file

Opens a file from the filesystem and returns its contents as a string. This is useful for reading configuration files, templates, or other text-based data during procedure execution.

Syntax

read_file(file_path)

Parameters

Name	Type	Required	Description
file_path	string	Yes	The absolute path to the file to read.

Returns

Type: string

The full contents of the file as a string.

Examples

Reading a text file:

read_file("/pb/data/template.txt")

Returns the contents of template.txt as a string.

Using file contents in a field mapping:

replace(read_file("/pb/data/email_template.html"), "{{name}}", [full_name])

Reads an HTML template and substitutes a placeholder with the record's full_name field.

Notes

• The file path must be an absolute path within the container's filesystem.
• The file is read in text mode, so this function is intended for text files only. For binary files or attachments, use open_file instead.
• If the file does not exist or cannot be read, a standard file I/O error will be raised.
• Files within the Precision Bridge data volume are typically located under the /pb directory.