How does swift turn a text file into a string or array?

change:

var content = NSString(contentsOfFile: location, encoding: NSUTF32StringEncoding, error: nil)

to:

var content = NSString(contentsOfFile: location, encoding: NSUTF8StringEncoding, error: &err)

EDIT: removed nil from suggested fix per Martin R's request

i use this helper class for file working:

class File {
    var path=""

    init(path: String,name:String){
        self.path=path+"/"+name
    }

    init(path: String){
        self.path=path
    }

    func read()->String {
        return NSString(contentsOfFile: path, encoding: NSUTF8StringEncoding, error: nil)!
    }

    func write(data: String) {
        data.writeToFile(path, atomically: true, encoding: NSUTF8StringEncoding, error: nil)
    }

    func getLineArray()->[String] {
        return read().componentsSeparatedByString("\n")
    }
}

using:

let address = "/Users/sajadgarshasbi/Desktop/myTestFile/sample.txt"
if NSFileManager.defaultManager().fileExistsAtPath(address) {
    let f = File(path: address)
    println(f.read())
}else{
    println("File Not Found")
}

Does that file exist? What does

NSFileManager().fileExistsAtPath(location)

return?

Also, are you sure it's UTF-32 encoded? The most likely encoding is probably UTF-8.

If you are using playground it will always return nil because playground is sandboxed. You can place your file inside the documents directory but it is located somewhere else at your computer and probably looks like something like the String below.

"/var/folders/f9/yrxcqv_10m57prx9lwts4qy80000gq/T/com.apple.dt.Xcode.pg/containers/com.apple.dt.playground.stub.iOS_Simulator.MyPlayground-iOS-NSDate-85BEA777-C527-4A79-9B4E-53427CF98B7D/Documents/".

You can open this folder using your finder Main Menu > Go > Go To Folder... (command-shift-G) and paste that directory path there.

You can locate your playground documents folder using the code below:

let documentDirectoryPath =  (NSFileManager().URLsForDirectory(.DocumentDirectory, inDomains: .UserDomainMask).first as NSURL).path!

Just place your file there and then you can open it as a String:

let fileName = documentDirectoryPath.stringByAppendingPathComponent("test.txt")

var error:NSError?
if "This is a sample sentence.".writeToFile(fileName, atomically: true, encoding: NSUTF8StringEncoding, error: &error) {
    println("file successfully saved")  // "file successfully saved"
} else {
    if let error = error {
        println(error.description)
    }
}


if let myLoadedString = String(contentsOfFile: fileName, encoding: NSUTF8StringEncoding, error: &error) {
    println(myLoadedString)  // "This is a sample sentence."
} else {
    if let error = error {
        println(error.description)
    }
}