you can do that by appending $crlf to the end of each line, but note that variables have a maximum length of about 950 characters (which includes the variable name, the = sign used to assign the variable and all of the characters in the variable). To append the $crlf you have to put like <line1> $+ $crlf $+ <line2> $+ $crlf
So if you have 4 lines at 200 characters each, and you call the variable %a, then that's going to give you a variable that's about 839 characters in length (still under the 950, but hopefully it gives you an idea as to how quickly that 950 character mark can be reached)
I still have to recommend that you consider using @windows for your sorting, especially as you've not said why you don't want to use them.
