Split string into an array in Bash

Question

In a Bash script I would like to split a line into pieces and store them in an array.

The line:

Paris, France, Europe

I would like

Answer 1

For multilined elements, why not something like

$ array=($(echo -e $'a a\nb b' | tr ' ' '§')) && array=("${array[@]//§/ }") && echo "${array[@]/%/ INTERELEMENT}"

a a INTERELEMENT b b INTERELEMENT