From mboxrd@z Thu Jan  1 00:00:00 1970
Date: Sat,  5 Jan 2019 15:52:28 -0800
From: Anthony Martin <ality@pbrane.org>
To: Fans of the OS Plan 9 from Bell Labs <9fans@9fans.net>
Message-ID: <20190105235228.GA21088@alice>
References: <72B9C1DF-7927-4F58-9529-3DC122DEF47C@mapinternet.com>
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Subject: Re: [9fans] rc scripts,
 how to get spaces in array elements generated by command output?
Topicbox-Message-UUID: f2aa4aa4-ead9-11e9-9d60-3106f5b1d025

Mack Wallace <mackbw@mapinternet.com> once said:
> My question: Is there a way to take the string output of a command that
> contains spaces and make it a single element of an array in rc script?
>
> [...]
>=20
> However, if I am receiving output from sed that contains spaces from
> the following script line
>=20
> string_var =3D `{echo some_string | sed =E2=80=99s/x/y/g=E2=80=99}
>=20
> If the output was =E2=80=98hello world=E2=80=99, string_var would becom=
e a two
> element array which
> echo $some_string(1)=20
> echo $some_string(2)
>=20
> Would output=20
> hello
> world

You need to change the input field separator, $ifs.

The default value is any whitespace character:

	% x =3D `{echo -n hello world}
	% echo $#x
	2
	% echo $x(1)
	hello
	% echo $x(2)
	world

Using only newline as the separator yields:

	% ifs =3D '
		' # this is a newline character
	% 	y =3D `{echo -n hello world}
	% echo $#y
	1
	% echo $y(1)
	hello world

You might want to use a comma instead:

	% ifs =3D ,
	% z =3D `{echo -n hello world,good luck}
	% echo $#z
	2
	% echo $z(1)
	hello world
	% echo $z(2)
	good luck

Cheers,
  Anthony