Set MSDOS variable equal to the contents of a text file

[flyingsheep]

i have what i thought would be a fairly simple question which has now turned into a crusade, i am trying to set an variable equal to the contents of a text file, for example:

CONTENTS OF A TEXT FILE named text.txt:
hello world

PSEUDO-CODE (msdos) FOR WHAT I WANT TO DO:
set TEXTSTRING=[the_contents_of_text.txt]

SOME IDEAS THAT DIDNT WORK:
type text.txt>>somevariable
and
type text.txt|set somevariable


if you have any ideas on how i could do this, i am open to any ideas, thanks in advance,
alex

 

[bcastner]

This begs for the use of the Windows Scripting Host, but see a discussion of doing it under DOS:

http://www.student.northpark.edu/pemente/sed/bat_env.htm

 

[Marcs41]

In batch:

@Set MYTEXT=text.TXT
@Set PARSEARG="eol=; tokens=1,2,3,4,5 "
@For /F %PARSEARG% %%j in (%MYTEXT%) Do SET TEXTSTRING=%%j %%k %%l %%m %%n
@cls
@Echo %TEXTSTRING%


Marc
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[flyingsheep]

thank you both very much, i investigated both of your solutions, i'm sorry to have bothered you with such a simple question but i couldnt seem to find the answer, again, thank you very much

alex