Reading Variable Values from Stdin: SET /P

You can read values from standard input (stdin) and assign them to a variable with the set command using the /p option (aka switch). When you do this, the value specified on the right-hand side of the equal sign is used as the prompt presented to the user:

> set /p NAME=Enter your name:
Enter your name: J. Doe

> echo %NAME%
J. Doe

Here is a script which uses a couple of SET /P statements:

@echo off
set /p NAME=Please enter your name:
echo Please to meet you, %NAME%
set /p FILE=Please enter a filename:
echo Saving your name into the file...
echo NAME=%NAME% >> %FILE%
echo Done.

Command Capture

There is no direct equivalient to command capture, but it is possible to use SET /P with redirection from standard input using the less-than [<] symbol to capture one line of text:

> DATE /T >X
> SET /P D= ``<X
> ECHO %D%
2024-12-11