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];

print @Nine[2];

print @Nine[3];

print @Weird[0];

print @Weird[1];

print @Weird[2];

print @Weird[3];

This results in the following:

  Here is some data: Apple9~Beer9~Cider

  Here is some data: Apple,~Beer,~Cider

  Here is some data: Apple,9Beer,9Cider