argc() {
   printf '%s:\t' "$1"; shift
   printf "%2d args:" "$#"
   printf " <%s>" "$@"
   printf '\n'
}

IFS=' 	,'		# IFS=$' \t,'	except not all shells have $'' yet

SPACE=' '
FOO=foo
TWO='one two'
TWOS=' one two '
C=','
C2=',,'
CSC=', ,'
SCSCS=' , , '
S1='one,two'
S2='one , two'
S3=',one,two'
S4='one,two,'
S5=' ,one ,two,  '

argc foo foo${FOO}foo
argc sep foo${SPACE}foo
argc two foo${TWO}foo
argc twos foo${TWOS}foo
argc 2two foo${TWO}${TWO}foo
argc 2twos foo${TWOS}${TWOS}foo
argc comma foo${C}foo
argc C2 foo${C2}foo
argc CSC foo${CSC}foo
argc SCSCS foo${SCSCS}foo
argc S1 foo${S1}foo
argc S2 foo${S2}foo
argc S3 foo${S3}foo
argc S4 foo${S4}foo
argc S5 foo${S5}foo