string_split

Gamma: Version 4.0
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# `string_split`

`string_split` -- breaks a string into individual words.

## Syntax

    string_split (string, delimiters, max_words)

## Arguments

`string`

  Any character string.

`delimiters`

  A character string containing delimiter characters.

`max_words`

  The maximum number of words to separate.

## Returns

A list containing at most (`max_words` + 1) elements, each of which is a string.

## Description

This function breaks a string into individual words wherever it finds any one of the characters in the `delimiters` string. If `max_words` is zero or less, there is no limit to the number of words which may be generated. If `max_words` is greater than zero, then at most `max_words` words will be generated. If there are any characters remaining in the string once `max_words` words have been generated, then the remaining characters will be returned as the last element in the result list. If `delimiters` is the empty string, "", then the input string will be split at any white space.

## Example

        Gamma> string_split("This is a test","",0);
        ("This" "is" "a" "test")
        Gamma> string_split("This is a test"," ",2);
        ("This" "is" "a test")
        Gamma> string_split("This is a test","ie",0);
        ("Th" "s " "s a t" "st")
        Gamma> string_split("12:05:29",":",-1);
        ("12" "05" "29")
        Gamma>

See the Start a Process section of the Common Functions for Any Program chapter (Tutorial Two), or the Common: Plot Setup section of the History Functions chapter in the Cogent Tools Demo and Tutorials book for examples of this function used in context.

## See Also

`strchr`, `strrchr`, `strstr`

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