The following script returns nulls in the read command
arguments; however if you comment out the read command, awk
will print the field variables:

#!/bin/ksh

IFS=' '

    echo "1;/usr/tistar/bin/flpnm.asc;Name;Ascending;lp_" |
\
    awk -F\; '{if(NR == tc) {printf("%s %s %s %s\n", $2, $3,
$4, $5)}}' tc=1 | \
    read file field sortorder value
    echo $file $field $sortorder $value