Re: Strings with ':'

[Andrew Stribblehill]

Quoting David Douthitt <ssrat@mailbag.com> (2002-09-16 07:38:24 BST):
> In a control section, how do I assign a string to
> a variable when the string contains ':' (or any other
> "list" character)?
> 
> In this case, I was using a URL:
> 
> control:
>     myvar = ( ftp://name:passwd@site/some/dir/on/site )
> 
> I tried using " (double-quote), ' (single-quote),
> and escaping the ":" with back-slash; nothing worked.
> I use the ":" in other places as an actual list separator
> (such as using $PATH!) so I don't want to just change it.
> 
> Besides, that doesn't answer the question: how do you
> remove the meaning of the list separator character in
> a string?

Not an answer for you but a suggestion for the future of cfengine...

If we had a function, say 'split', we could use:

mydirs = ( split(foo:bar:baz:quux) )

Unfortunately, this would break backward-compatibility, so maybe you
could do with a literal() function instead. I reckon I could knock up
a split() function but writing literal() would mean mucking around
with more of cfengine's dark magic than I currently understand.

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