[kwlug-disc] bash question tab separated values

[Richard Weait]

I'm reading lines from a tab-separated-value text file.  Ten values
per line.  I'd like to load them into ten variables for further
processing, then output.

It ain't working for me.  Looks like the tabs are being silently
dropped then my cut -f3, for example, returns the complete line.

Some fields include spaces, so I'd rather continue to split on tabs.
How do I keep the tabs?  How should I be reading these lines?