split(1T) Tcl Built-In Commands split(1T)
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NAME
split - Split a string into a proper Tcl list
SYNOPSIS
split string ?splitChars?
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DESCRIPTION
Returns a list created by splitting string at each character that is in the splitChars argument. Each element of the result list will con-
sist of the characters from string that lie between instances of the characters in splitChars. Empty list elements will be generated if
string contains adjacent characters in splitChars, or if the first or last character of string is in splitChars. If splitChars is an empty
string then each character of string becomes a separate element of the result list. SplitChars defaults to the standard white-space char-
acters.
EXAMPLES
Divide up a USENET group name into its hierarchical components:
split "comp.lang.tcl.announce" .
=> comp lang tcl announce
See how the split command splits on every character in splitChars, which can result in information loss if you are not careful:
split "alpha beta gamma" "temp"
=> al {ha b} {} {a ga} {} a
Extract the list words from a string that is not a well-formed list:
split "Example with {unbalanced brace character"
=> Example with {unbalanced brace character
Split a string into its constituent characters
split "Hello world" {}
=> H e l l o { } w o r l d
PARSING RECORD-ORIENTED FILES
Parse a Unix /etc/passwd file, which consists of one entry per line, with each line consisting of a colon-separated list of fields:
## Read the file
set fid [open /etc/passwd]
set content [read $fid]
close $fid
## Split into records on newlines
set records [split $content "
"]
## Iterate over the records
foreach rec $records {
## Split into fields on colons
set fields [split $rec ":"]
## Assign fields to variables and print some out...
lassign $fields
userName password uid grp longName homeDir shell
puts "$longName uses [file tail $shell] for a login shell"
}
SEE ALSO
join(1T), list(1T), string(1T)
KEYWORDS
list, split, string
ATTRIBUTES
See attributes(5) for descriptions of the following attributes:
+--------------------+-----------------+
| ATTRIBUTE TYPE | ATTRIBUTE VALUE |
+--------------------+-----------------+
|Availability | SUNWTcl |
+--------------------+-----------------+
|Interface Stability | Uncommitted |
+--------------------+-----------------+
NOTES
Source for Tcl is available on http://opensolaris.org.
Tcl split(1T)