Hi, I'm in the process of writing a batch program and I am wondering if I can load a variable from a file. EG, if the file is named "test" and the variable "aaa" is the only data in file "test" how can i load it so it will display when i type 'echo %b%'. Thanks in advance for any help in this issue.

Explain better what you mean by "the variable in the file is aaa and I want to display echo %b%" What is the relation between aaa and %b%?

aaa being the first line in file 'test' and %b% being the variable in the batch file i wnt to set to aaa (the varible loaded from the file 'test'.

set /P b=<test echo %b%

Thank you very much, this works perfectly.

Hi, another question to add to this topic, what if i want to load the second line or the third line, is this possible?

Yes, it is possible, but that requires more advanced NT batch scripting. First of all start your batch by coding @echo off & setlocal EnableDelayedExpansion That enables the delayed expansion of variables that must be referenced by the ! symbol instead of the usual %. To know more type Set /? at the prompt and you get an on-line quick (unfriendly) tutorial. Here how to read the third line set myline=3 set line=0 for /F "delims=" %%j in (test.txt) do ( set /A line+=1 if !line! equ !myline! (set myvar=%%j& goto :DONE) ) :DONE echo.Line #!myline! contains !myvar!