How to convert a multi line string parameter to an array in jenkins declarative pipeline

Question

I am trying to take a multi line string as input from user as parameter and trying to convert it to Array in Jenkins declarative pipeline.

I am stuck with this problem since 3 days.

I tried doing this:

    parameters ([
      text(defaultValue: '''
      A
      B
      C''', description: 'Enter alphabet in above format', 
       name: 'Alphabet'

def lines = "${Alphabet}"
def linesA = lines.toString.split('/n')

Any help will be highly appreciated.

Answer 1

The last line looks wrong. If you want to use toString(), you should add brackets at the end. The new line character begins with a backslash \n, not a slash. It should be

def linesA =lines.toString().split('\n')

Taking advantage of Groovy's default behavior, this can be shortened to

def linesA =lines.split()

Here is an example for the pipeline. Note that linesA here is a List of trimmed Strings:

pipeline {
    agent any

    stages {
        stage('Read Alphabet') {
            input {
                message "Alphabet"
                parameters {
                    text(defaultValue: '''
      A
      B
      C''', 
                         description: 'Enter alphabet in above format', 
                         name: 'Alphabet')
                }
            }
            steps {
                script { 
                    def lines = "${Alphabet}"
                    def linesA = lines.split().collect { it.trim() }
                    echo "${linesA}"
                }
            }      
        }
    }
}