<operating system> ($IFS) A predefined environment variable
in the Unix Bourne shell whose default value is the
three-character string containing space, tab and line
feed. Any string of one or more of these characters
separates the command and each of its arguments in a command
line.
$IFS also tells the shell's built-in read command where to
split an input line when reading into multiple variables.
E.g. setting IFS=: would be appropriate for reading a file
with ':'-separated fields, such as /etc/passwd.
(1999-04-07)
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