Shell Programming and Scripting

     The shell supports a one-dimensional array facility. An ele-
     ment  of  an  array variable is referenced by a subscript. A
     subscript is denoted by  a  [,  followed  by  an  arithmetic
     expression  (see Arithmetic Evaluation  below) followed by a
     ]. To assign values to an array, use set -A name value  ....
     The  value  of  all  subscripts  must  be  in the range of 0
     through 4095. Arrays need not be declared. Any reference  to
     a variable with a valid subscript is legal and an array will
     be created if necessary. Referencing an array without a sub-
     script  is  equivalent  to  referencing the element 0. If an
     array identifier with subscript * or @  is  used,  then  the
     value  for each of the elements is substituted (separated by
     a field separator character).

awk 'BEGIN{
    A=" 3498 NORDEA - INDX LINKED NORY"
    m=split(A,a,"")
    for(i=1;i<=m;i++){
        print a[i]
    }
}

# echo  "3498 NORDEA - INDX LINKED NORY" | awk 'BEGIN{FS=""}{for(i=1;i<=m;i++)print $i}'