Bash: split multi line input into array

I've got a file with strings and base64 encoded data over multiple lines, that are sepearated by a comma. Example: 1,meV9ivU4PqEKNpo5Q2u2U0h9owUn4Y8CF83TTjUNWTRQs7dEgVxnsMgf4lvg9kvxcIaM3yB4Ssim z46M/C7YlovNUmrjOByhV1SCb/bGyv1yL7SYFnw1GHbYjdH0b6UZ7nQzJHU6VmwMo0V77vFNy6nx rmJZ4KqW9EcjdV1plQmsVXSiZVi61+fNOHCMDmVtJ4q097geWxf4bT0/k/yRyRwi5Zr8BC64htVS AdwOSo4PIk7xDLOzLywAYOCDQvD/zuErf1L0e8nHGz2LKdApHdEWB7Y2yM3iZyXuQ4sMx0+oX66+ FxwUulvHj+EpXtLJx5rmV7AUjr/GsNw/1aYAGPCfz0S+//Ic5pXX5rY1fZ96oFGw4a9vRiAmxe/w ZOza6LtwuF+WUHjbIeWTUKKQGgFIM81dwVHHY7xdRnQhK5J0Zf3Xz0GzzZj5/2YFbI8q7lVkJ3ZQ 7Oqt0qdfk3aj+BQhOxmn1F55yACPBZoPUw6K8ExTHHGVGdCEiIDTu5qKHcUwK0hGAZA9Mun5KTO0 gPs9JxF8FJjkQBF7rEa6TP3pH5OwdkATH2uf+Zcmp1t6NbBymXVlsLzWZookVsaT1DNXf1I1H8Xz 8dnfh6Yl63jSr2PAhDrcOqJNM8Z9/XhBGxtlD1ela3nq6N1ErR1Gv1YZKNeNcL7O2Z3Vl2oyyDw=,U2FsdGVkX1/c8rTTO41zVT7gB+KL+n7KoNCgM3vfchOyuvBngdXDGjXTvXTK0jz6 Now, I'd like to split the content into an array, so that each multi-line string is an array element. I tried to use IFS, but that only reads the first line: filecontent=$(cat myfile) IFS=',' read -a myarray <<< "$filecontent" Result: $myarray = 1 $myarray = meV9ivU4PqEKNpo5Q2u2U0h9owUn4Y8CF83TTjUNWTRQs7dEgVxnsMgf4lvg9kvxcIaM3yB4Ssim Expected: $myarray = 1 $myarray = meV9ivU4PqEKNpo5Q2u2U0h9owUn4Y8CF83TTjUNWTRQs7dEgVxnsMgf4lvg9kvxcIaM3yB4Ssim z46M/C7YlovNUmrjOByhV1SCb/bGyv1yL7SYFnw1GHbYjdH0b6UZ7nQzJHU6VmwMo0V77vFNy6nx rmJZ4KqW9EcjdV1plQmsVXSiZVi61+fNOHCMDmVtJ4q097geWxf4bT0/k/yRyRwi5Zr8BC64htVS AdwOSo4PIk7xDLOzLywAYOCDQvD/zuErf1L0e8nHGz2LKdApHdEWB7Y2yM3iZyXuQ4sMx0+oX66+ FxwUulvHj+EpXtLJx5rmV7AUjr/GsNw/1aYAGPCfz0S+//Ic5pXX5rY1fZ96oFGw4a9vRiAmxe/w ZOza6LtwuF+WUHjbIeWTUKKQGgFIM81dwVHHY7xdRnQhK5J0Zf3Xz0GzzZj5/2YFbI8q7lVkJ3ZQ 7Oqt0qdfk3aj+BQhOxmn1F55yACPBZoPUw6K8ExTHHGVGdCEiIDTu5qKHcUwK0hGAZA9Mun5KTO0 gPs9JxF8FJjkQBF7rEa6TP3pH5OwdkATH2uf+Zcmp1t6NbBymXVlsLzWZookVsaT1DNXf1I1H8Xz 8dnfh6Yl63jSr2PAhDrcOqJNM8Z9/XhBGxtlD1ela3nq6N1ErR1Gv1YZKNeNcL7O2Z3Vl2oyyDw= $myarray = U2FsdGVkX1/c8rTTO41zVT7gB+KL+n7KoNCgM3vfchOyuvBngdXDGjXTvXTK0jz6 Could someone help me out here?