Using Split() On a String - Perl

In this fourth part of our series on Lists, we will start off with the split() function and hopefully end by covering hashes. In our last article, we covered the splice() function, which we used to add, remove, and replace elements in a list. We then used it to create variables and arrays. We also worked with some operators to repeat a list and to create sequential lists.

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By: James Payne

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April 07, 2008

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In our previous examples, we used a single character as our delimiter. But we aren't limited (pun intended) to that single character. Below are some examples using strings as a delimiter:

#!/usr/bin/perl

$Message = "Hidden Message: ----K----i----ll----yo----urse----lf\n\n";

@DoIt = split(/----/,$Message);

print @DoIt[0];

print @DoIt[1];

print @DoIt[2];

print @DoIt[3]. " ";

print @DoIt[4];

print @DoIt[5];

print @DoIt[6];

Here our delimiter is “----”. The output of this nefarious code is:

Hidden Message: Kill yourself

You can also use a variable as your delimiter, like so:

#!/usr/bin/perl

$Message = "Hidden Message: ----K----i----ll----yo----urse----lf\n\n";

$Del = "----";

@DoIt = split(/$Del/,$Message);

print @DoIt[0];

print @DoIt[1];

print @DoIt[2];

print @DoIt[3]. " ";

print @DoIt[4];

print @DoIt[5];

print @DoIt[6];

This gives us the same result as before.

If you want to get creative, you could also use a list. In this next example, we will create a string with several possible delimiters, and then use a list to switch back and forth between them:

#!/usr/bin/perl

$Data = "Here is some data: Apple,9~Beer,9~Cider\n\n";

@Del = (',','9','~',);

@Comma = split(/@Del[0]/,$Data);

@Nine = split(/@Del[1]/,$Data);

@Weird = split(/@Del[2]/,$Data);

print @Comma[0];

print @Comma[1];

print @Comma[2];

print @Comma[3];

print @Nine[0];

print @Nine[1];