groovy closure instantiate variables - variables

Question

is it possible to create a set of variables from a list of values using a closure??
the reason for asking this is to create some recursive functionality based on a list of (say) two three four or five parts
The code here of course doesn't work but any pointers would be helpful.then
def longthing = 'A for B with C in D on E'
//eg shopping for 30 mins with Fiona in Birmingham on Friday at 15:00
def breaks = [" on ", " in ", "with ", " for "]
def vary = ['when', 'place', 'with', 'event']
i = 0
line = place = with = event = ""
breaks.each{
shortline = longthing.split(breaks[i])
longthing= shortline[0]
//this is the line which obviously will not work
${vary[i]} = shortline[1]
rez[i] = shortline[1]
i++
}
return place + "; " + with + "; " + event
// looking for answer of D; C; B
EDIT>>
Yes I am trying to find a groovier way to clean up this, which i have to do after the each loop
len = rez[3].trim()
if(len.contains("all")){
len = "all"
} else if (len.contains(" ")){
len = len.substring(0, len.indexOf(" ")+2 )
}
len = len.replaceAll(" ", "")
with = rez[2].trim()
place = rez[1].trim()
when = rez[0].trim()
event = shortline[0]
and if I decide to add another item to the list (which I just did) I have to remember which [i] it is to extract it successfully
This is the worker part for then parsing dates/times to then use jChronic to convert natural text into Gregorian Calendar info so I can then set an event in a Google Calendar

Answer 1

How about:
def longthing = 'A for B with C in D on E'
def breaks = [" on ", " in ", "with ", " for "]
def vary = ['when', 'place', 'with', 'event']
rez = []
line = place = with = event = ""
breaks.eachWithIndex{ b, i ->
shortline = longthing.split(b)
longthing = shortline[0]
this[vary[i]] = shortline[1]
rez[i] = shortline[1]
}
return place + "; " + with + "; " + event

Answer 2

when you use a closure with a List and "each", groovy loops over the element in the List, putting the value in the list in the "it" variable. However, since you also want to keep track of the index, there is a groovy eachWithIndex that also passes in the index
http://groovy.codehaus.org/GDK+Extensions+to+Object
so something like
breaks.eachWithIndex {item, index ->
... code here ...
}