Can't figure out how to read file from nmake

Question

I am doing something like this:

all: 
    @SET /p filecontent= < somefile.txt
    @echo %filecontent%

However the filecontent

Answer 1

Simply ensure somefile.txt is in acceptable nmake syntax, and then !include it. Thus:

c:>type somefile.txt
PASSWORD=secret
c:>type makefile
!INCLUDE somefile.txt
!MESSAGE Password is [$(PASSWORD)]
c:>nmake -nologo
Password is [secret]