In this post, I am sharing the demonstration on how to read the data from the file to SQL Server.

Using xp_cmdshell windows command shell stored procedure, we can do data operation in the windows file directories.
I also shared an article on how to export SQL Server table data into text file.

SQL Server: xp_cmdshell and BCP to export table data in a Text File

Enable xp_cmdshell:

USE master;
GO
sp_CONFIGURE 'show advanced', 1
GO
RECONFIGURE
GO
sp_CONFIGURE 'xp_cmdshell', 1
GO
RECONFIGURE
GO

Read the data from the file:
I created a text file in ‘D:\dbrnd.txt’ location. My file contains “Database Research & Development”.

DECLARE @Command VARCHAR(255)
DECLARE @Filepath VARCHAR(255)

SELECT @Filepath = ISNULL(@Filepath,'D:\dbrnd.txt') 
PRINT 'Path: ' + @Filepath

CREATE TABLE #tbl_ReadFile(filerecord VARCHAR(MAX))

IF @Filepath IS NOT NULL AND LEN(@Filepath) > 10
BEGIN
	SELECT @Command = 'type ' + @Filepath
	INSERT INTO [dbo].[#tbl_ReadFile] 
	EXEC master.dbo.xp_cmdshell @Command
END

Result:

SELECT *FROM #tbl_ReadFile

filerecord
----------------------------------
Database Research & Development