Try this function - Just stick it in a label and you are on your way.

Function readfile(ByVal contentRequest As String) As String

Trace.Warn("Requested: ", contentRequest)

Dim FILENAME As String = Server.MapPath("/pplContent/" & contentRequest &
".txt")

Trace.Write(FILENAME)

'Dim FILENAME As String = "Rand.txt"

'Get a StreamReader class that can be used to read  the file

Dim objStreamReader As StreamReader

Try

objStreamReader = File.OpenText(FILENAME)

Dim contents As String = objStreamReader.ReadToEnd()

lblNicerOutput.Text = contents.Replace(vbCrLf, "<br>")

Catch

lblNicerOutput.Text = "<h3>Sorry that file  can not be located</h3>"

End Try

'We may wish to replace carraige returns with <br>s



objStreamReader.Close()

End Function

Try this:

StreamReader sr = new StreamReader (File.Open(Server.MapPath(filePath),
FileMode.Open) );

FileContent.Text = sr.ReadToEnd(); // FileContent is a text  area control

sr.Close();

Are you stuck with reading  data from the file  or are you open to other
options?

Text files generally DON'T have any formatting. Except maybe for tabs and
returns. To acomplish that you could do the string.Replace() and returns with
<BR>s.