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 consist 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 characters.

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 "\n"]

              ## 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(3tcl), list(3tcl), string(3tcl)

KEYWORDS

       list, split, string