Syntax
------ 
LOAD_FILE(file_name)
 
Description
----------- 
Reads the file and returns the file contents as a string. To
use this function, the file must be located on the server
host, you must specify the full path name to the file, and
you must have the FILE privilege. The file must be readable
by all and it must be less than the size, in bytes, of the
max_allowed_packet system variable. If the secure_file_priv
system variable is set to a non-empty directory name, the
file to be loaded must be located in that directory.
 
If the file does not exist or cannot be read because one of
the preceding conditions is not satisfied, the function
returns NULL.
 
Since MariaDB 5.1, the character_set_filesystem system
variable has controlled interpretation of file names that
are given as literal strings.
 
Statements using the LOAD_FILE() function are not safe for
statement based replication. This is because the slave will
execute the LOAD_FILE() command itself. If the file doesn't
exist on the slave, the function will return NULL.
 
Examples
-------- 
UPDATE t SET blob_col=LOAD_FILE('/tmp/picture') WHERE
id=1;
 


URL: https://mariadb.com/kb/en/load_file/