Download a string as .txt file in React

Question

I have a string which needs to be downloaded in a txt file when click on a button. How can this be implemented using React?

Chris · Accepted Answer · 2019-03-08T08:29:37.210

103

Here's a working example. Enter the text in the input field and click Download txt, this will download a txt with the contents you entered in the input.

This solution creates a new Blob object of the text MIME type and attaches it to the href of a temporary anchor (<a>) element which is then triggered programmatically.

A Blob object represents a file-like object of immutable, raw data. Blobs represent data that isn't necessarily in a JavaScript-native format.

class MyApp extends React.Component {
  downloadTxtFile = () => {
    const element = document.createElement("a");
    const file = new Blob([document.getElementById('myInput').value], {type: 'text/plain'});
    element.href = URL.createObjectURL(file);
    element.download = "myFile.txt";
    document.body.appendChild(element); // Required for this to work in FireFox
    element.click();
  }
  
  render() {
    return (
      <div>
        <input id="myInput" />
        <button onClick={this.downloadTxtFile}>Download txt</button>
      </div>
    );
  }
}

ReactDOM.render(<MyApp />, document.getElementById("myApp"));

<script src="https://cdnjs.cloudflare.com/ajax/libs/react/15.1.0/react.min.js"></script>
<script src="https://cdnjs.cloudflare.com/ajax/libs/react/15.1.0/react-dom.min.js"></script>
<div id="myApp"></div>

This answer was derived from thanhpk's post.

edited Mar 08 '19 at 08:29

answered Jun 20 '17 at 19:56

Chris

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so, what you're actually saying is this question is a duplicate. – Kevin B Jun 20 '17 at 20:10
4

@KevinB, not really. The linked question does not explain the solution, nor is it a question related to react. Marking this as a dupe to that question would not be very helpful to OP nor to future readers. I explain the solution and provide a working sample, which is more helpful than said post. But why don't you mark it as a dupe yourself if you think it is? – Chris Jun 20 '17 at 20:26
1

i was debating on closing it in the opposite direction. as you said, this is a much more useful QA pair. – Kevin B Jun 20 '17 at 20:27
2

For some reason this code does nothing in Firefox for me( – Anton Duzenko Oct 25 '18 at 11:23
2

Firefox requires the element to be appended to the body before the click. document.body.appendChild(element) – Robin Larsson Mar 08 '19 at 08:22
Hi, thanks for this fast solution, but it fails for me for large string of text, the Click handler in chrome fails. – Vikas Saini Dec 19 '19 at 07:33
for me its working with Incognito mode but not working in normal mode using chrome, any suggestion? – Abhishek Tomar Jan 13 '21 at 15:50
@AbhishekTomar where did you try this? on your own website? – Chris Jan 13 '21 at 17:03
Yes; trying on my own site using localhost. – Abhishek Tomar Jan 15 '21 at 18:15
2

Thanks @Chris. Can confirm this still works as of 2023. – Ayush Jun 22 '23 at 18:12

score -1 · Answer 2 · answered Aug 17 '23 at 14:56

For using React with hooks and arrow functions, here's a working example:

const DownloadButton = ({textOutput}: { textOutput: string }) => {
    const file = new Blob([textOutput], {type: 'text/plain'});

    return (
            <Button variant="outlined">
                <a download="sample.txt" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer" href={URL.createObjectURL(file)} style={{
                    textDecoration: "inherit",
                    color: "inherit",
                }}>Download</a>
            </Button>
    )
}

Note: I'm using MUI lib and added some styling to make sure anchor tag dont mess with the styling.

Download a string as .txt file in React

2 Answers2

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