JAVASCRIPT

readfilesync return buffer

squadJSON = JSON.parse(fs.readFileSync('./squads/squad' + whichSquad + '.json', 'utf8')); 

readfilesync buffer

const fs = require('fs');

const buf = fs.readFileSync('./package.json');
buf instanceof Buffer; // true

buf; // '<Buffer 7b 0a 20 20 22 6e 61 6d 65 22 ...>'