The UV photolysis of Ar-HCl is simulated by an exact wave packet calculation. Partial fragmentation of the cluster into H and Ar-Cl fragments is studied by projecting out the asymptotic wave packet onto the product states, at several excitation energies in the range of the Ar-HCl absorption spectrum. The partial fragmentation pathway is found to dominate the photolysis process at very low excitation energies, and to be intense also at high energies. At medium excitation energies the other competing fragmentation pathway, namely total fragmentation into H, Ar, and Cl, dominates almost completely the photodissociation dynamics. The relative intensity of the two fragmentation pathways depends on the extent to which the hydrogen is initially blocked by Ar and Cl. The Ar-Cl radicals are produced with high rotational and low vibrational excitation at most of the Ar-HCl energies studied. The internal energy distributions of Ar-Cl show remarkable differences in shape depending on the regions of the absorption spectrum which are excited. This effect can be exploited to control both the efficiency of Ar-Cl generation and the internal excitation of the radical prepared, by changing the excitation energy of the parent cluster. (C) 2000 American Institute of Physics. [S0021-9606(00)00210-5].