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" .
                    → comp lang tcl

       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