...assign the text of a file to a string?

function GetTextFromFile(AFile: string; var Returnstring: string): Boolean;
var
  FileStream: TFileStream;
begin
  Result := False;
  if not FileExists(AFile) then Exit;
  FileStream := TFileStream.Create(AFile, fmOpenRead);
  try
    if FileStream.Size <> 0 then
    begin
      SetLength(Returnstring, FileStream.Size);
      FileStream.Read(Returnstring[1], FileStream.Size);
      Result := True;
    end;
  finally
    FileStream.Free;
  end;
end;

procedure TForm1.Button1Click(Sender: TObject);
var
  s: string;
begin
  if GetTextFromFile('c:\autoexec.bat', s) then
  begin
    ShowMessage(s);
    // Label1.caption := s; or assign the text to a Label
    // Memo1.text := s;     or a memo
  end;
end;

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