Forums Scripts & Popups String splitting

How would I take a character string, or a variable and split each character up into its own variable?
Example

from:
%var = CAT

to:
%var.1 = C
%var.2 = A
%var.3 = T

you guys are too much help

If $1- was "a b c def" you would get:
%split.1 a
%split.2
%split.3 b
%split.4
%split.5 c
%split.6
%split.7 d
%split.8 e
%split.9 f

thanks