# separate_arguments

Parse command-line arguments into a semicolon-separated list.

    separate_arguments(<variable> <mode> [PROGRAM [SEPARATE_ARGS]] <args>)

Parses a space-separated string `<args>` into a list of items, and stores this list in semicolon-separated standard form in `<variable>`.

This function is intended for parsing command-line arguments. The entire command line must be passed as one string in the argument `<args>`.

The exact parsing rules depend on the operating system. They are specified by the `<mode>` argument which must be one of the following keywords:

`UNIX_COMMAND`

  Arguments are separated by unquoted whitespace. Both single-quote and double-quote pairs are respected. A backslash escapes the next literal character (`\"` is `"`); there are no special escapes (`\n` is just `n`).

`WINDOWS_COMMAND`

  A Windows command-line is parsed using the same syntax the runtime library uses to construct argv at startup. It separates arguments by whitespace that is not double-quoted. Backslashes are literal unless they precede double-quotes. See the MSDN article Parsing C Command-Line Arguments for details.

`NATIVE_COMMAND`

  Added in version 3.9.

  Proceeds as in `WINDOWS_COMMAND` mode if the host system is Windows. Otherwise proceeds as in `UNIX_COMMAND` mode.

`PROGRAM`

  Added in version 3.19.

  The first item in `<args>` is assumed to be an executable and will be searched in the system search path or left as a full path. If not found, `<variable>` will be empty. Otherwise, `<variable>` is a list of 2 elements:

  0. Absolute path of the program

  1. Any command-line arguments present in `<args>` as a string

  For example:

      separate_arguments (out UNIX_COMMAND PROGRAM "cc -c main.c")

  - First element of the list: `/path/to/cc`

  - Second element of the list: `" -c main.c"`

`SEPARATE_ARGS`

  When this sub-option of `PROGRAM` option is specified, command-line arguments will be split as well and stored in `<variable>`.

  For example:

      separate_arguments (out UNIX_COMMAND PROGRAM SEPARATE_ARGS "cc -c main.c")

  The contents of `out` will be: `/path/to/cc;-c;main.c`

    separate_arguments(<var>)

Convert the value of `<var>` to a semi-colon separated list. All spaces are replaced with ';'. This helps with generating command lines.