Bash - Split string into array, preserving spaces

Question

I'm trying to split a string into an array using a delimiter other than space, keeping spaces preserved.

For example, if I run:

files=$(echo "foo.txt:bar.txt:my story.txt" | tr ":" "\n")
for f in $files; do
    echo $f
done

I get:

foo.txt
bar.txt
my
story.txt

How can I preserve the spaces?

Answer 1

files=$(cmd) is not an array assignment. It's a string assignment (the output of cmd is assigned to a regular variable files).

I would recommend using read -a to split the string as globs won't be an issue:

IFS=: read -ra files <<< "foo.txt:bar.txt:my story.txt"

for f in "${files[@]}"; do
    echo "$f"
done

Answer 2

Use IFS to specify the field separator:

IFS=: files=($(echo "foo.txt:bar.txt:my story.txt"))
for f in "${files[@]}"; do
    echo "$f"
done

You also need to put parentheses around the value to make an array. You just set $files to a string where the : were replaced with newline. When you then expand $files, word splitting uses any form of whitespace, so spaces and newlines are field separators.