diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 31dd87b..fe30c40 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -70,11 +70,15 @@ The first word is the name of the variable, the rest is the value or a dictionar
 
 **Return Value**:
 Empty string
+
 You can make the value of `varname` dependant on the value of another variable `othervar` by using a dictionary-like syntax described above.
 In this case, `varname` will take the first value from the dictionary that matches tha value of `othervar`. 
 `*` always everything and can be used as fallback. General wildcards like `a*` to match everything that starts with a are not supported.
 Instead of commas `,` you can also use semicolons `;` as separators, but this must be consistend within the map.
 
+### return
+Same as `set`, but it returns the value of the variable that is being set. This is meant to use with maps, when you need a variable from a map you can 'inline' it with `return`
+
 ### default
 Same as `set`, but it sets the variable's value only if it has no value yet.
 
@@ -91,6 +95,7 @@ Any string
 
 **Return Value**:
 The argument in comment tags
+
 This can be useful in multiline comments that contain other commands: In that case, the comment tags will be removed and each command replaced with
 its return value, so if you want to just have commented text in there you can use `#comment` 
 
@@ -105,6 +110,7 @@ Any string
 
 **Return Value**:
 The argument
+
 This can be useful when you want to look at the unprocessed html without variables or when your syntax highlighting gets confused by a variable.
 
 ---
@@ -162,3 +168,4 @@ Empty string
 - The `#include` command must not be in the last line of the file
 - The maps in `set` must have **at least 2** options
 - If you want to use variables in markdown, you have to escape the `#` with a backslash, so `#$(var)` becomes `\#$(var)`
+- You can not use the `return` command from within the arguments of other commands. Commands are executed in order, so `return` will end up as argument of the first command and thus never be executed
diff --git a/html-preprocessor b/html-preprocessor
index 8ea1a05..75ca0f1 100755
--- a/html-preprocessor
+++ b/html-preprocessor
@@ -215,7 +215,7 @@ def cmd_include(args: str, variables:dict[str, str]={}) -> str:
     glob_dependcies.append(args)
     return content
 
-def cmd_set(args: str, variables:dict[str, str]={}) -> str:
+def cmd_return(args: str, variables:dict[str, str]={}) -> str:
     # re_set_map = r"([a-zA-Z0-9_]+)\?\{(([a-zA-Z0-9_]+:.+,)*([a-zA-Z0-9_]+:.+))\}"
     # <!-- #set section=lang?{*:Fallback,de:Abschnitt,en:Section} -->
     space = args.find(' ')
@@ -247,15 +247,20 @@ def cmd_set(args: str, variables:dict[str, str]={}) -> str:
                     variables[varname] = option[colon+1:].strip(" ")
 
         else:  # simple asignment
-            value = args[space+1:]
-            variables[varname] = value.strip(" ")
-            pdebug(f"cmd_set: Assignment {varname} -> {value.strip(' ')}")
+            value = args[space+1:].strip(" ")
+            variables[varname] = value
+            pdebug(f"cmd_set: Assignment {varname} -> {value}")
+        return variables[varname]
+    return ""
+
+def cmd_set(args: str, variables:dict[str, str]={}) -> str:
+    cmd_return(args, variables)
     return ""
 
 def cmd_default(args: str, variables:dict[str, str]={}) -> str:
     separator = args.find(' ')
     if args[:separator] not in variables:
-        return cmd_set(args, variables)
+        cmd_return(args, variables)
     return ""
 
 
@@ -268,6 +273,7 @@ def cmd_uncomment(args: str, variables:dict[str, str]={}) -> str:
 command2function:dict[str, Callable[[str, dict[str,str]], str]] = {
     "include":      cmd_include,
     "set":          cmd_set,
+    "return":       cmd_return,
     "default":      cmd_default,
     "comment":      cmd_comment,
     "uncomment":    cmd_uncomment,