Double quotation mark will miss or become single quotation mark.

[thejimmylin]

Case1

set dstintf "port1"

set dstintf port1

Case2

set poolname "ippool jimmylin 168.100.168.11"

set poolname 'ippool jimmylin 168.100.168.11'

[thejimmylin]

There are three kind of split

1. string.split(' ')
2. shlex.split(string)
3. shlex.split(string, posix=False)

And two kind of join

1. ' '.join(strings)
2. shlex.join(strings)

Test1 - split

>>> import shlex
>>> s = 'set service HTTP "HTTPS" "service abc def" \'abc\''

1. string.split(' ') - Can't recognize word in quotes.

>>> s.split(' ')
['set', 'service', 'HTTP', '"HTTPS"', '"service', 'abc', 'def"', "'abc'"]

2. shlex.split(string) - Some quotes disapear.

>>> shlex.split(string)
['set', 'service', 'HTTP', 'HTTPS', 'service abc def', 'abc']

3. shlex.split(string, pox=False) - Perfect!

>>> shlex.split(string, posix=False)
['set', 'service', 'HTTP', '"HTTPS"', '"service abc def"', "'abc'"]

Test2 - join

Use shlex.split(string, posix=False) for the test about join.

1. ' '.join(strings) - Prefect

>>> ' '.join(shlex.split(string, posix=False))
'set service HTTP "HTTPS" "service abc def" \'abc\''

2. shlex.join(strings) - Too many quotes added.

>>> shlex.join(shlex.split(string, posix=False))
'set service HTTP \'"HTTPS"\' \'"service abc def"\' \'\'"\'"\'abc\'"\'"\'\''

Conclusion

Use
shlex.split(string, posix=False)

and
' '.join(strings)