Good afternoon,

consider the following example:

  \documentclass{article}
  \usepackage{expl3}
  
  \begin{document}
    \ExplSyntaxOn
      \clist_set:Nn\l_tmpa_clist{,,foo,bar,}
      \typeout{\clist_count:N\l_tmpa_clist}    %expected:  5,    I get 2.
      \typeout{\clist_item:Nn\l_tmpa_clist{3}} %expected: `foo`, I get `'.
      \typeout{\clist_item:Nn\l_tmpa_clist{4}} %expected: `bar`, I get `'.
    \ExplSyntaxOff
  \end{document}

Why does \clist_set:Nn ignore empty items when initialising a clist
variable from a token list? Is this intended behaviour? Is there a
work-around?

Kind regards
Alexander