File "testfile" contains only one row with the name of another file "testfile2". I want to put the name of "testfile2" (example 200308190000) into a variable. How to write a BAT file that reads "testfile" and put the name of "testfile2" into a variable that I can use ? For example to copy "testfile2" to another directory.

I don't know, but there are plenty of examples on the net, you should search for it. The FIND command will search for a text string in a file: find "string" [path:filename] Then you can use SET to assign a variable, refered to like: set var=3 echo %var% And you can also use CALL to read the commands from another batch file, but I don't know if it works with a text file: call [path:filename] That's just a few suggestions, you can find much more at various sites.