echo $string |cut -d';' -f1 | read str1
echo $string |cut -d';' -f2 | read str2
echo $string |cut -d';' -f3 | read str3

$str = "abc\@hotmail.com;xyz\@gmail.com;uvw\@yahoo.com";

@arr = split(/;/, $str);

print "first: $arr[0]\n";
print "second: $arr[1]\n";
print "third: $arr[2]\n";

string="abc@hotmail.com;xyz@gmail.com;uvw@yahoo.com"
str1=${string%%;*}
str3=${string##*;}
temp=${string#$str1;}
str2=${temp#;$str3}

#!/usr/bin/ksh

string="abc@hotmail.com;xyz@gmail.com;uvw@yahoo.com"

oIFS="$IFS"; IFS=';' 
set -A str $string
IFS="$oIFS"

echo "strings count = ${#str[@]}"
echo "first : ${str[0]}";
echo "second: ${str[1]}";
echo "third : ${str[2]}";

strings count = 3
first : abc@hotmail.com
second: xyz@gmail.com
third : uvw@yahoo.com