[Home](./index.md) > [bitburner](./bitburner.md) > [NS](./bitburner.ns.md) > [read](./bitburner.ns.read.md) ## NS.read() method Read content of a file. **Signature:** ```typescript read(filename: string): string; ``` ## Parameters

Parameter	Type	Description
filename	string	Name of the file to be read.

**Returns:** string Data in the specified text file. ## Remarks RAM cost: 0 GB This function is used to read data from a text file (.txt, .json, .css), a script (.js, .jsx, .ts, .tsx), a literature file (.lit), or a message (.msg). This function will return the data in the specified file. If the file does not exist, an empty string will be returned. With literature files, the returned data is a raw HTML string.