i just want to add @finbarr great answer, a little fix in the asynchronous example:
Asynchronous:
var fs = require('fs');
fs.readFile('file.txt', function(err, data) {
if(err) throw err;
var array = data.toString().split("\n");
for(i in array) {
console.log(array[i]);
}
done();
});
@MadPhysicist, done() is what releases the async. call.