diff --git a/lib/util/fileHelpers.js b/lib/util/fileHelpers.js
index <HASH>..<HASH> 100644
--- a/lib/util/fileHelpers.js
+++ b/lib/util/fileHelpers.js
@@ -21,6 +21,11 @@ module.exports = {
       path.sep, filePath);
     return JSON.parse(fs.readFileSync(fullPathToFile));
   },
+  getFileAsString: function(filePath) {
+    var fullPathToFile = (filePath.charAt(0) === path.sep) ? filePath : path.join(process.cwd(),
+      path.sep, filePath);
+    return fs.readFileSync(fullPathToFile,'utf-8');
+  },
 
   getFileAsArray: function(filePath) {
     var fullPathToFile = (filePath.charAt(0) === path.sep) ? filePath : path.join(process.cwd(),
read plain text to String #<I>