I want to convert a string like (a,b,c) into a list a b c in tcsh

In tcl I would expect to do something like

set a "a,b,c"
set b [split $a ,]
llength $b <would return 3>

How do I do this in tcsh?

Most shells don't do too much built-in; they rely on calling outside programs.

 setenv a "a,b,c"
 setenv b `echo $a | sed -e 's/,/ /g'`
 echo $b

In my experience, csh is not a good scripting language.  If you have
the option, I suggest looking at /bin/sh instead.  It's standard (on
all unix), more powerful, and has better extensions (i.e. "bash").  If
you still need more power, go to perl.

-- Brian