Shell Programming and Scripting

Use shell parameter expansion; there is no need for any external command:

Code:

var="hello world"
left=${var%% *}
right=${var#* }

set `eval echo $var`
x=$1;
y=$2;

Why eval and echo?

Code:

set -f  ## inhibit filename expansion
set -- $var
set +f
left=$1
right=$2

var="hello world"
declare -a array
array=( $(echo ${var}) )

You don't need echo or command substitution (or declare), but you should add set -f in case there are any wildcards in $var:

Code:

set -f
array=( $var )
set +f

echo ${array[0]}
echo ${array[1]}

Or:

Code:

printf "%s\n" "${array[@]}"