What is common way to split string into list with CMAKE?

Question

Imagine I have the following string :

set(SEXY_STRING \"I love CMake\")

then I want to obtain SEXY_LIST from SEXY_STRING

Answer 1

You can use the separate_arguments command.

cmake_minimum_required(VERSION 2.6)

set(SEXY_STRING "I love CMake")

message(STATUS "string = ${SEXY_STRING}")
# string = I love CMake

set( SEXY_LIST ${SEXY_STRING} )
separate_arguments(SEXY_LIST)

message(STATUS "list = ${SEXY_LIST}")
# list = I;love;CMake

list(LENGTH SEXY_LIST len)
message(STATUS "len = ${len}")
# len = 3