Batch scripting, special character

I'm tryint to writhe a batch script that needs a < put into the command line
and I am not getting a succesful ru of the batch. It works fine if I type it
directly in the command line but it is not working in a batch file.

here is the line that is failing

start /w c:\imail\addalias < c:\files\filename.txt

When I run it form a batch file it is putting a 0 in front of the < and
erroring out.

How would I get this to wok. Thanks in advance for all the help.