def read_files(paths, binary=False, skip_failures=False, progress=None):
    """Reads the specified files into memory.

    Args:
        paths: a list of filepaths
        binary (False): whether to read the files in binary mode
        skip_failures (False): whether to gracefully continue without raising
            an error if an operation fails
        progress (None): whether to render a progress bar (True/False), use the
            default value ``fiftyone.config.show_progress_bars`` (None), or a
            progress callback function to invoke instead

    Returns:
        a list of file contents
    """
    tasks = [(p, binary, skip_failures) for p in paths]
    return _run(_do_read_file, tasks, return_results=True, progress=progress)
Reads the specified files into memory.

    Args:
        paths: a list of filepaths
        binary (False): whether to read the files in binary mode
        skip_failures (False): whether to gracefully continue without raising
            an error if an operation fails
        progress (None): whether to render a progress bar (True/False), use the
            default value ``fiftyone.config.show_progress_bars`` (None), or a
            progress callback function to invoke instead

    Returns:
        a list of file contents
    
fiftyone/core/storage.py