Setting variables from a text file

Hi Say I have a text file, separated by "|" ( a pipe). Now, I want to extract that info, in the form of variables. I can extract and display the info in the text files, but that's not what I want. I want to be able to tell it that the first entry should be variable1, the second entry should be variable2, etc. I add the info into the file with a script, that always adds variable1 into field one, variable2 into field2, etc. These variables are taken from a form. Now, I need to pass those variables onto another script, but I need to be able to extract them. Can anyone help me with this please? Thank you Rudi Ahlers