Thank you Jason. Your explanation makes it clear. However I now think that it is really confusing to have <<"name" equivalent to <<name What if I want to change the filename and put it in a variable so that << name could output to one file at one point and then, after doing name = "otherfilename", I want to again do << name?

I guess I will have to use the Get[filename] approach all the time.

Thank you Jason. Now to find out how to mark your reply as the definitive answer.

Hello Rohit, I went ahead and tried your code and it does work. However, what I am talking about is exhibited here:

filename = "foo";

a = Get[filename]

(* Sin[x] *)

a = << filename

(* Get::noopen: Cannot open filename. *)

$Failed

I thought that a = << filename and a = Get[filename] meant the same thing. I though that << and Get were the same function. But, seemingly not.

I thought that a = << filename and a = Get[filename] meant the same thing.

Based on the documentation for Get they are not the same thing. I would expect << filename to look for a file called "filename" somewhere on my $Path, regardless of any value attached to the variable filename.