>>I'm using this line to run an EXE. Sometimes the EXE is successful, and sometimes it's not. Is there a way to get whatever was displayed in the command window after it runs? I need to take a different action afterward depending on whether it was successful or not.
>>
>>

>>EXEC MASTER.dbo.xp_cmdshell @Merge_Script, no_output
>>

>
>EXEC @result = xp_cmdshell @Merge_Script, no_output
>
>http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms175046.aspx

I don't know if you checked the link I gave you, but I think you may use

DECLARE @cmd sysname, @var sysname
SET @var = 'Hello world'
SET @cmd = 'echo ' + @var + ' > var_out.txt'
EXEC master..xp_cmdshell @cmd