NAME
       split - Split a string into a proper Tcl list

SYNOPSIS
       split string ?splitChars?


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 charac-
       ters 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(n), list(n), string(n)


KEYWORDS
