1public String readFile(String filePath) {
2    String result = "";
3    try {
4        result = Files.readString(Paths.get(filePath));
5    } catch (IOException e) {
6        e.printStackTrace();
7    }
8    return result;
9}

1package test;
2
3import java.io.BufferedReader;
4import java.io.FileInputStream;
5import java.io.IOException;
6import java.io.InputStream;
7import java.io.InputStreamReader;
8import java.nio.charset.StandardCharsets;
9import java.nio.file.Files;
10import java.nio.file.Paths;
11
12
13/**
14 * Java Program to demonstrate different ways to loop over collection in 
15 * pre Java 8 and Java 8 world using Stream's forEach method.
16 * @author Javin Paul
17 */
18public class FileToStringJava8 {
19
20    public static void main(String args[]) throws IOException {
21
22        // How to read file into String before Java 7
23        InputStream is = new FileInputStream("manifest.mf");
24        BufferedReader buf = new BufferedReader(new InputStreamReader(is));
25        
26        String line = buf.readLine();
27        StringBuilder sb = new StringBuilder();
28        
29        while(line != null){
30            sb.append(line).append("\n");
31            line = buf.readLine();
32        }
33        
34        String fileAsString = sb.toString();
35        System.out.println("Contents (before Java 7) : " + fileAsString);
36        
37        
38        // Reading file into Stirng in one line in JDK 7
39        String contents = new String(Files.readAllBytes(Paths.get("manifest.mf")));
40        System.out.println("Contents (Java 7) : " + contents);
41        
42        
43        
44        // Reading file into String using proper character encoding
45        String fileString = new String(Files.readAllBytes(Paths.get("manifest.mf")), StandardCharsets.UTF_8);
46        System.out.println("Contents (Java 7 with character encoding ) : " + fileString);
47        
48
49        // It's even easier in Java 8
50        Files.lines(Paths.get("manifest.mf"), StandardCharsets.UTF_8).forEach(System.out::println);
51        
52    }
53
54
55}
56

1public static String loadFileAsString(String path) {
2  InputStream stream = YourClassName.class.getResourceAsStream(path);
3  try {
4    String result = new String(stream.readAllBytes());
5    return result;
6  } catch (IOException e) {
7    e.printStackTrace();
8    return null;
9  }
10}
11