How to read entire content of a text file in batch

Question

I want to read entire content of a text file in a batch file. I found this :

for /f "delims=" %%x in (file.txt) do set content=%%x

but the "content" variable just has the last line, I want to read entire file into a single variable.

Answer 1

I'm not sure the exact format you are looking for in the 'content' variable, but this code should do the trick (The code simply sets content to blank, then loops through each line of file.txt and copies the line into content using delayed expansions):

@echo off
setlocal enabledelayedexpansion
set content=

for /f "delims=" %%x in (file.txt) do (set content=!content! %%x)
echo !content!

endlocal

Answer 2

From your comment

Is there any way to include lines in !content!

I assume you want linefeeds in your content variable, this can be done with an extra variable.

@echo off
setlocal EnableDelayedExpansion
set LF=^


rem ** The two empty lines are necessary
set "content="

for /f "delims=" %%x in (file.txt) do (
  set "content=!content!%%x!LF!"
)
echo(!content!

endlocal