Want non-interpretation of blank space using cat

I have a file say ADCD which is like following-->

Please consider 'z' as space

 
#cat ADCD
<!--Yzzz|z-->
<!--Nzzzzz-->

Now I want to store the content of this file to a variable say VAR like this-->

#VAR=`cat ADCD`
#echo $VAR
<!--Yz|z--> <!--Nz--> 

Now I don' t want the variable to evaluate space within the tags.

My Result should be like this-->

#echo $VAR
<!--Yzzz|z--> <!--Nzzzzz-->

Please help me on this. Thanks in advance.

use double quotes

 
echo "$var"

---------- Post updated at 01:43 PM ---------- Previous update was at 01:42 PM ----------

$ a=$(cat f.txt)
$ echo $a
<!--Y | --> <!--N -->
$ echo "$a"
<!--Y | -->
<!--N -->

And instead of cat in command substitution, you could use the I/O redirector < for efficiency.

VAR=$(<ADCD)