# separate_arguments

Parse space-separated arguments into a semicolon-separated list.

    separate_arguments(<var> <UNIX|WINDOWS>_COMMAND "<args>")

Parses a unix- or windows-style command-line string “<args>” and stores a semicolon-separated list of the arguments in `<var>`. The entire command line must be given in one “<args>” argument.

The `UNIX_COMMAND` mode separates arguments by unquoted whitespace. It recognizes both single-quote and double-quote pairs. A backslash escapes the next literal character (” is ”); there are no special escapes (n is just n).

The `WINDOWS_COMMAND` mode parses a windows command-line 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.

    separate_arguments(VARIABLE)

Convert the value of `VARIABLE` to a semi-colon separated list. All spaces are replaced with ‘;’. This helps with generating command lines.