Put output into an array

Shell Programming and Scripting
1

I'm trying to take the output of an environment that has multiple strings

ex.

# echo $SSH_CLIENT
192.168.1.1 57039 22

I need that IP... so I can set it to another environment.

Thank you

2 
IP=${SSH_CLIENT%% *}
3

Thank you Franklin52.

Is there any way I could have a break down on why that works so I may better understand it?

4

Have a read of this:

Learning the Korn Shell, 2nd Edition: Chapter 4: Basic Shell Programming

Regards