Reference for Processing version 1.5. If you have a previous version, use the reference included with your software. If you see any errors or have suggestions, please let us know. If you prefer a more technical reference, visit the Processing Javadoc.

Name

### loadStrings()

Examples

    String lines[] = loadStrings("list.txt");
    println("there are " + lines.length + " lines");
    for (int i=0; i < lines.length; i++) {
      println(lines[i]);
    }

Description

Reads the contents of a file or url and creates a String array of its individual lines. If a file is specified, it must be located in the sketch's "data" directory/folder.
The filename parameter can also be a URL to a file found online. For security reasons, a Processing sketch found online can only download files from the same server from which it came. Getting around this restriction requires a signed applet.
If the file is not available or an error occurs, null will be returned and an error message will be printed to the console. The error message does not halt the program, however the null value may cause a NullPointerException if your code does not check whether the value returned is null.
Starting with Processing release 0134, all files loaded and saved by the Processing API use UTF-8 encoding. In previous releases, the default encoding for your platform was used, which causes problems when files are moved to other platforms.

Syntax

    loadStrings(filename)

Parameters

filename | String: name of the file or url to load

Returns | String[]
Usage | Web & Application
Related | loadBytes() saveStrings() saveBytes()

Updated on August 30, 2010 04:29:39pm EDT