split() is a string function in
Perl which is used to split or you can say to cut a string into smaller sections or pieces. There are different criteria to split a string, like on a single character, a
regular expression(pattern), a group of characters or on undefined value etc.. The best thing about this function that user can specify how many sections to split the string into.
Syntax:
split /Pattern/, Expression, Limit
or
split /Pattern/, Expression
or
split /Pattern/
or
Split
In the above syntax,
Pattern is specified a regular expression which provides the criteria to split the string. The
Expression is the string which is to be split. The
Limit is kind of restriction which stops the splitting at (n-1)th pattern found in the string.
Return Value: This method returns the value in
two context as follows:
In Array Context: Here it returns a list of the fields which found in Expression. If no Expression is specified then it returns $_.
In Scalar Context: Here it returns the number of fields which found in Expression and then stored the fields in the @_ array.
There are
different ways to use split() Function as follows:
- Splitting on a Character
- Splitting among a String without Limit
- Splitting among a String with Limit
- Splitting on a Undefined value
- Splitting on a Regex(Pattern)
- Splitting on Hash
- Splitting on Space
Splitting on a Character
User can break or split the string on different characters like
comma(,) backslash(\) etc. This type of splitting is generally used when you have to parse the data from another program or a file. Don't use split() to parse the
CSV(comma separated value) files. If there are commas in your data then use
Text::CSV instead.
Example:
Perl
# Perl program to demonstrate the splitting on character
#!/usr/bin/perl
use strict;
use warnings;
# Here character is comma(, )
my $str = 'Geeks, for, Geeks';
# using split() function
my @spl = split(', ', $str);
# displaying result using foreach loop
foreach my $i (@spl)
{
print "$i";
}
Splitting among String without any Limit
This also works same as the splitting on the character. Here string's data is separated by two
!!.
Example:
Perl
# Perl program to demonstrate the
# splitting among string without Limit
#!/usr/bin/perl
use strict;
use warnings;
# string which is separated by !! sign
my $str = 'GFG!!Geeks!!55!!GeeksforGeeks';
# using split function without Limit
my @spl = split('!!', $str);
# displaying string after splitting
foreach my $i (@spl)
{
print "$i\n";
}
Output:
GFG
Geeks
55
GeeksforGeeks
Splitting among String with Limit
This also works same as the splitting on the character. Here string's data is separated by two
!!. Here the user can restrict the number of sections the string will split into by passing the third argument in split function which will be a positive integer value. In below example user pass the
Limit as 3 so it will restrict the splitting of the string into 3, even there are the 4 occurrences of
!! in the string.
Example:
Perl
# Perl program to demonstrate the
# splitting on string with Limit
#!/usr/bin/perl
use strict;
use warnings;
# string which is separated by !! sign
my $str = 'GFG!!Geeks!!55!!GeeksforGeeks';
# using split function with Limit
my @spl = split('!!', $str, 3);
# displaying string after splitting
foreach my $i (@spl)
{
print "$i\n";
}
Output:
GFG
Geeks
55!!GeeksforGeeks
Splitting on an undefined value
If the user will try to split on an undefined value, then the string will split on every character.
Example:
Perl
# Perl program to demonstrate the
# splitting on undefined value
#!/usr/bin/perl
use strict;
use warnings;
# string to be split
my $str = 'GeeksforGeeks GFG';
# using split function
my @spl = split(undef, $str);
# displaying string after splitting
foreach my $i (@spl)
{
print "$i\n";
}
G
e
e
k
s
f
o
r
G
e
e
k
s
G
F
G
Runtime Error:
Use of uninitialized value in regexp compilation at /home/38ececda726bcb7e68fb7b41eee5b8d9.pl line 12.
Splitting on a Pattern or Regex
Sometimes user may want to split the string on a pattern(regex) or a particular type of character. Here we will use the special character classes to make pattern of digits(integer) as follows:
Example:
Perl
# Perl program to demonstrate the
# splitting on a pattern(regex)
#!/usr/bin/perl
use strict;
use warnings;
# string to be split
my $str = 'Geeks1for2Geeks';
# using split function
# \d+ will match one or more
# integer numbers & placed
# between two //
my @spl = split(/\d+/, $str);
# displaying string after splitting
foreach my $i (@spl)
{
print "$i\n";
}
Splitting into a hash
A user can split the data or string into the hash instead of an array. Basically, a hash is a key/value pair. Before splitting user must have knowledge about the hashes.
Example:
Perl
# Perl program to demonstrate the
# splitting into the hash
#!/usr/bin/perl
use strict;
use warnings;
# hash to be split
my $has = 'GFG=1;GEEKS=2;PROGEEK=3';
# using split function
my %spl = split(/[=;]/, $has);
# after splitting displaying the values
foreach my $i (keys %spl)
{
print "$i:$spl{$i}\n";
}
Output:
GFG:1
GEEKS:2
PROGEEK:3
Splitting on Space
Here space doesn't mean only
' ' this space but it also includes the newline, tabs etc.
Example:
Perl
# Perl program to demonstrate the
# splitting on space
#!/usr/bin/perl
use strict;
use warnings;
# string to be splitted
my $str = "ProGeek\n\nSudo\nPlacements";
# using split function
my @spl = split(' ', $str);
# Displaying result by printing
# 'GFG' either side of the
# value, so that user can see
# where it split
foreach my $i (@spl)
{
print "GFG${i}GFG\n";
}
Output:
GFGProGeekGFG
GFGSudoGFG
GFGPlacementsGFG
Important Points To Remember
- As split() function also returns the value in scalar context. So for storing the return values user have to define some scalar values according to the number of sections of splitting. In below example there will be 4 values after splitting so here user will define the 4 scalars values and store the return values.
Example:
Perl
# Perl program to demonstrate the
# splitting on string and storing
# values in scalars
#!/usr/bin/perl
use strict;
use warnings;
# string which is separated by !! sign
my $str = 'GFG!Sudo!GeeksforGeeks!ProGeek';
# using split function and
# storing values in scalars
my ($sc1, $sc2, $sc3, $sc4) = split('!', $str);
# displaying string after splitting
print "$sc1\n$sc2\n$sc3\n$sc4";
Output:
GFG
Sudo
GeeksforGeeks
ProGeek
- There may be a situation when user don't pass in a string to split, then by default split() function will use the $_ and if user don't pass a Expression i.e. the string to split on then it will use ' '(a space).
Example:
Perl
# Perl program to demonstrate the
# split() function and context
#!/usr/bin/perl
use strict;
use warnings;
# using foreach loop containing string values
foreach ('G F G', 'Geeks for Geeks')
{
# using split() function
my @spl = split;
# displaying values to be split
print "Split $_:\n";
foreach my $i (@spl)
{
print " $i\n";
}
}
Output:
Split G F G:
G
F
G
Split Geeks for Geeks:
Geeks
for
Geeks
- If the delimiter is present at the starting of the string which is to be split, then the first element of return values will be empty and that will store into the array. In below example we have this situation and we are printing the empty value of resulted array:
Example:
Perl
# Perl program to demonstrate the
# split() function with the Delimiter
# at the start of the string
#!/usr/bin/perl
use strict;
use warnings;
# string containing delimiter(, )
# at the starting
my $str = ', GFG, Geeks';
# using split function
my @spl = split(', ', $str);
# printing "Array_Element: " with each
# returned value so that you can see
# the empty one
foreach my $i (@spl)
{
print "Array_Element: $i\n";
}
Output:
Array_Element:
Array_Element: GFG
Array_Element: Geeks
- If you want to keep the delimiter in result also then simply put that delimiter inside the parentheses.
Example:
Perl
# Perl program to demonstrate the
# split() function and keeping
# the delimiter
#!/usr/bin/perl
use strict;
use warnings;
# string to be split
my $str = 'Geeks1for2Geeks';
# using split function
# \d+ will match one or more
# integer numbers & placed
# between two // and () to
# keep the delimiter in result
my @spl = split(/(\d+)/, $str);
# displaying string after splitting
foreach my $i (@spl)
{
print "$i\n";
}
Output:
Geeks
1
for
2
Geeks
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