ClickHouse/docs/en/sql-reference/functions/files.md

slug	sidebar_position	sidebar_label
/en/sql-reference/functions/files	75	Files

file

Reads file as string and loads the data into the specified column. The actual file content is not interpreted.

Also see table function file.

Syntax

file(path[, default])

Arguments

• path — The path of the file relative to user_files_path. Supports the following wildcards: *, ?, {abc,def} and {N..M} where N, M are numbers and 'abc', 'def' are strings.
• default — The value that will be returned in the case the file does not exist or cannot be accessed. Supported data types: String and NULL.

Example

Inserting data from files a.txt and b.txt into a table as strings:

Query:

INSERT INTO table SELECT file('a.txt'), file('b.txt');