Question

    tokens='a,b'
    IFS=',' read -ra a <<<$tokens
    for i in "${a[@]}"; do
       echo "$i |"
    done

outputs

    a b |

but

    IFS=',' read -ra a <<<'a,b'
    for i in "${a[@]}"; do
       echo "$i |"
    done

outputs correctly

a |
b |

how do I make the first one work? I’m confused.

Answer 1

You need double quotes around $token

 cat a

 tokens='a,b'
     IFS=',' read -ra a <<< "$tokens"
     for i in "${a[@]}"; do
        echo "$i |"
     done

 ./a
 a |
 b |