Tokenize string - wrong result

Question

Wrong tokenize of string

For extraction of app version from command output

#!/bin/bash
# GNU bash, version 4.3.46

string='Version: 19.08.19-14:25'
IFS=" -:" set -- $string
echo $2

I expect that $2 will have value 19.08.19. But result is 19.08.19 14 25.

Answer 1

The word splitting happens before the value of IFS has changed (see SIMPLE COMMAND EXPANSION in man bash). You need to set IFS in a separate statement.

IFS=" -:"
set -- $string

Don't forget to set it back if the script does anything else.