I don't know if this is best, but I use the following to set a csh variable to the contents of a file: set x = `cat file` Note that those are backquotes, and of course you can run anything in there, even pipes. -- spoken: mark weiser UUCP: {seismo,allegra,brl-bmd}!umcp-cs!mark CSNet: mark at umcp-cs ARPA: mark.umcp-cs at CSNet-Relay