How To Read a local JSON File Using Fetch API

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How To Read a local JSON File Using Fetch API

Can I use Fetch on a local JSON file?

The standard method that can be used to read
JSON files (either locally or uploaded to a server) is the Fetch API.
Use the same syntax for both. The only difference is the URL

First Create A .JSON file With name test.json

{
"countries":[
{
   "name": "Indonesia",
   "capital": "Jakarata"
},
{
   "name": "Philippines",
   "capital": "Manila"
  }
 ]
}

Then create JavaScript file give name fetch.js

fetch("test.json")
.then(response => response.json())
.then(data => showInfo(data));

function showInfo(data) {
console.table(data.countries);
}

Top comments (7)

José Pablo Ramírez Vargas • Sep 24 '22 • Edited

Although I admit I didn't ever think this would work, I should ask why is even needed. If you are in a browser, you cannot fetch from the user's file system, and definitely cannot from the server's file system. On the other hand, if you are doing NodeJS, you have the fs module to actually read the file system.

And in both cases, you can statically import JSON.

For the browser (in React, for example):

import myJson from "./myJson.json";

For NodeJS:

import myJson from "./myJson.json" assert { type: 'json' };

Roshan Shambharkar • Sep 25 '22

agreed

Paul Duguet • Oct 15

It's very convenient when you need to mock some external service in a test environment. It means you can read a local file without having to conditionally use require or fs and keep a consistent server application

ThomasHeideman • Jun 13

well, actually I needed just this earlier this week, when i was experimenting with some practice project and i noticed i was running out of free api calls, so i created a mock JSON file and fetched that instead 🤷🏻‍♂️