[KSH] Split string into array

Shell Programming and Scripting
1

Hi,

Is there any way to convert a string into an array in KSH? In other words I want to split the string like this:

STRING="one two three four"

into an array of 4 values splitting on white space. The array should be similar to the one that would be created with the following command:

set -A STRING "one two three four"

Is there any way to do it in one instruction, not using a loop like this one:

   i=0
   for WORD in `echo ${STRING}`; do
        STRING2[$i]=$WORD
        ((i=i+1))
    done
2

set -A array $(echo $STRING)

3

Well, I don't understand this thread. First of all:

$ set -A array "one two three four"
$ echo ${array[0]}
one two three four
$

so the command given in the OP results in an array with a single element. To replicate that behavior:

$ string="one two three four"
$ set -A array "$string"
$ echo ${array[0]}
one two three four
$

but if you want to split it into separate array elements do:

$ string="one two three four"
$ set -A array $string
$ echo ${array[0]}
one
$

if this is not working for you, you probably have IFS set wrong:

$ IFS=""
$ string="one two three four"
$ set -A array $string
$ echo ${array[0]}
one two three four
$
1 Like
4

You've been very helpful. Thank you very much!

Pit