To launch a process and read data from its standard output, the filename must consist of the < sign followed by the name of the command. The file should be opened for input.
For example:
 select input-file
     assign to "<cmd /c dir"
     organization is line sequential.
  ...
     open input input-file
     read input-file
            In this example the program launches the dir process and reads in the first line that it writes to its standard output.