Finally this worked!
alias test4 'set arg1 = `echo \!:1* | awk '"'"'{ print $1 }'"'"'`; \\
echo -n "Arg num 1 = $arg1 "; \\
set arg2 = `echo \!:2* | awk '"'"'{ print $1 }'"'"'`; \\
echo -n "Arg num 2 = $arg2 "; \\
set arg3 = `echo \!:3* | awk '"'"'{ print $1 }'"'"'`; \\
echo -n "Arg num 3 = $arg3 "; \\
set arg4 = `echo \!:4* | awk '"'"'{ print $1 }'"'"'`; \\
echo -n "Arg num 4 = $arg4 "; \\
set arg5 = `echo \!:5* | awk '"'"'{ print $1 }'"'"'`; \\
echo -n "Arg num 5 = $arg5 "; \\
echo ""; \\
'
test4 abc
test4 abc def ghi
test4 abc def ghi jkl
test4 abc def ghi jkl mno
test4 abc def ghi jkl mno pqr
I soon need to start converting to zsh..