Trying to split a string into two variables
bash, ifs, shell
Solution
This is a bug in Bash 4.2. See chepner's answer for a proper explanation.
It is about quotes. Use:
IFS=':' read var1 var2 <<< "$var"
^ ^
instead of
IFS=':' read var1 var2 <<< $var
See result:
$ IFS=':' read var1 var2 <<< "$var"
$ echo "var1=$var1, var2=$var2"
var1=hello, var2=world
But
$ IFS=':' read var1 var2 <<< $var
$ echo "var1=$var1, var2=$var2"
var1=hello world, var2=
Problem
I'm trying to split a string into two variables (without having to use a while loop): ``` var="hello:world" IFS=':' read var1 var2 <<< $var echo "var1: $var1" echo "var2: $var2" ``` but i'm not getting the desired result: ``` var1: 'hello world' var2: '' ``` Could anybody please explain if it's possible to do it this way (or similar way)?