Split string into array shell script

Question

How can I split a string into array in shell script?

I tried with IFS='delimiter' and it works with loops (for, while) but I need an array from that string.

How can I make an array from a string?

Thanks!

Answer 1

str=a:b:c:d:e
set -f
IFS=:
ary=($str)
for key in "${!ary[@]}"; do echo "$key ${ary[$key]}"; done

outputs

0 a
1 b
2 c
3 d
4 e

---

Another (bash) technique:

str=a:b:c:d:e
IFS=: read -ra ary <<<"$str"

This limits the change to the IFS variable only for the duration of the read command.