Split Function

A very useful function in Perl is split, which splits up a string and places it into an array. The function uses a regular expression and as usual works on the $_ variable unless otherwise specified.

The split function is used like this:

$info = "Caine:Michael:Actor:14, Leafy Drive";
@personal = split(/:/, $info);

@personal = ("Caine", "Michael", "Actor", "14, Leafy Drive");

@personal = split(/:/);

If the fields are divided by any number of colons then we can use the RE codes to get round this. The code

$_ = "Capes:Geoff::Shot putter:::Big Avenue";
@personal = split(/:+/);

@personal = ("Capes", "Geoff",
"Shot putter", "Big Avenue");

$_ = "Capes:Geoff::Shot putter:::Big Avenue";
@personal = split(/:/);

@personal = ("Capes", "Geoff", "",
"Shot putter", "", "", "Big Avenue");

A word can be split into characters, a sentence split into words and a paragraph split into sentences:

@chars = split(//, $word);
@words = split(/ /, $sentence);
@sentences = split(/\./, $paragraph);