---
title: writefile
comments: true
description: ''
---
Write to a file with the specified contents.
# Syntax
```javascript
cy.writeFile(filePath, contents)
cy.writeFile(filePath, contents, encoding)
cy.writeFile(filePath, contents, options)
cy.writeFile(filePath, contents, encoding, options)
```
## Usage
`cy.writeFile()` cannot be chained off any other cy commands, so should be chained off of `cy` for clarity.
**{% fa fa-check-circle green %} Valid Usage**
```javascript
cy.writeFile('menu.json')
```
## Arguments
**{% fa fa-angle-right %} filePath** ***(String)***
A path to a file within the project root (the directory that contains `cypress.json`).
**{% fa fa-angle-right %} contents** ***(String, Array, or Object)***
The contents to be written to the file.
**{% fa fa-angle-right %} encoding** ***(String)***
The encoding to be used when writing to the file. The following encodings are supported:
* `ascii`
* `base64`
* `binary`
* `hex`
* `latin1`
* `utf8`
* `utf-8`
* `ucs2`
* `ucs-2`
* `utf16le`
* `utf-16le`
**{% fa fa-angle-right %} options** ***(Object)***
Pass in an options object to change the default behavior of `cy.writeFile()`.
Option | Default | Notes
--- | --- | ---
`timeout` | [`defaultCommandTimeout`](https://on.cypress.io/guides/configuration#timeouts) | Total time to wait for the command to be processed.
## Yields
`cy.writeFile()` yields the contents written to the file.
## Timeout
`cy.writeFile()` will wait up for the duration of [`defaultCommandTimeout`](https://on.cypress.io/guides/configuration#timeouts) for the server to write to the file.
# Examples
## Text
**Write some text to a `txt` file**
If the path to the file does not exist, the file and it's path will be created. If the file already exists, it will be over-written.
```javascript
cy
.writeFile('path/to/message.txt', 'Hello World')
.then(function (text) {
expect(text).to.equal('Hello World') // true
})
```
`{projectRoot}/path/to/message.txt` will be created with the following contents:
```text
"Hello World"
```
## JSON
**Write JSON to a file**
JavaScript arrays and objects are stringified and formatted into text.
```javascript
cy.writeFile('path/to/data.json', { name: 'Eliza', email: 'eliza@example.com' })
.then(function (user) {
expect(user.name).to.equal('Eliza')
})
```
`{projectRoot}/path/to/data.json` will be created with the following contents:
```json
{
"name": "Eliza",
"email": "eliza@example.com"
}
```
**Write response data to a fixture file**
```javascript
cy.request('https://jsonplaceholder.typicode.com/users').then(function(response){
cy.writeFile('cypress/fixtures/users.json', response.body)
})
// our fixture file is now generated and can be used
cy.fixture('users').then(function(users){
expect(users[0].name).to.exist
})
```
## Encoding
**Specify the encoding with the third argument.**
```javascript
cy.writeFile('path/to/ascii.txt', 'Hello World', 'ascii'))
```
`{projectRoot}/path/to/message.txt` will be created with the following contents:
```text
Hello World
```
# Command Log
**Write an array to a file**
```javascript
cy.writeFile('info.log', ['foo', 'bar', 'baz'])
```
The command above will display in the command log as:
When clicking on the `writeFile` command within the command log, the console outputs the following:
# See also
- [readFile](https://on.cypress.io/api/readFile)
- [Creating Fixtures](https://on.cypress.io/guides/creating-fixtures)