Q:

how do you echo text from a file using batch?

okay, so I'm trying to make a batch file that just echos the text inside a file called "test.txt" and my code is
@echo off
cls
(
echo %0%
echo %1%
echo %2%
echo %3%
echo %4%
echo %5%
echo %6%
echo %7%
echo %8%
echo %9%
echo %10%
echo %11%
echo %12%
echo %13%
echo %14%
echo %15%
echo %16%
) <test.txt
pause >nul

but for some very strange reason I couldn't find any answers for anywhere, my output is
ECHO is off.    
ECHO is off.    
ECHO is off.    
ECHO is off.    
ECHO is off.    
ECHO is off.    
ECHO is off.    
ECHO is off.    
0    
1    
2    
3    
4    
5    
6

and I really don't understand why.

A:

If you want to echo the text that's inside your test.txt file, then you need to add this line to your batch file as already said by @Blorgbeard. 
type C:\..\test.txt
@pause

Adding this line to your batch file will display the text/contents of a file in the command prompt window.

