A
readme (or
read me)
file contains information about other files in a
directory or
archive and is commonly distributed with computer
software, forming part of its
documentation. Such a file is usually a
text file called
README.TXT,
README.md,
README.1ST,
READ.ME, or simply
README, although some software may occasionally include a
README.WRI,
README.RTF, or
README.DOC. The name is chosen so that users unaware of the existence of this type of file would be drawn to read it.