Strings.Split(String, String, Int32, CompareMethod) Method

public static string[] Split(string? Expression, string? Delimiter = " ", int Limit = -1, Microsoft.VisualBasic.CompareMethod Compare = Microsoft.VisualBasic.CompareMethod.Binary);

public static string[] Split(string Expression, string Delimiter = " ", int Limit = -1, Microsoft.VisualBasic.CompareMethod Compare = Microsoft.VisualBasic.CompareMethod.Binary);

static member Split : string * string * int * Microsoft.VisualBasic.CompareMethod -> string[]

Public Function Split (Expression As String, Optional Delimiter As String = " ", Optional Limit As Integer = -1, Optional Compare As CompareMethod = Microsoft.VisualBasic.CompareMethod.Binary) As String()

String array. If Expression is a zero-length string (""), Split returns a single-element array containing a zero-length string. If Delimiter is a zero-length string, or if it does not appear anywhere in Expression, Split returns a single-element array containing the entire Expression string.

The following example demonstrates how to split a string at its spaces.

Dim testString As String = "Look at these!"
' Returns an array containing "Look", "at", and "these!".
Dim testArray() As String = Split(testString)

The following example demonstrates how to split strings with multiple delimiters in a row and filter out the empty strings.

Dim testString As String = "apple    pear banana  "
Dim testArray() As String = Split(testString)
' testArray holds {"apple", "", "", "", "pear", "banana", "", ""}
Dim lastNonEmpty As Integer = -1
For i As Integer = 0 To testArray.Length - 1
    If testArray(i) <> "" Then
        lastNonEmpty += 1
        testArray(lastNonEmpty) = testArray(i)
    End If
Next
ReDim Preserve testArray(lastNonEmpty)
' testArray now holds {"apple", "pear", "banana"}

By default, or when Limit equals -1, the Split function splits the input string at every occurrence of the delimiter string, and returns the substrings in an array. When the Limit parameter is greater than zero, the Split function splits the string at the first Limit-1 occurrences of the delimiter, and returns an array with the resulting substrings. For example, Split("a:b:c", ":") returns the array {"a", "b", "c"}, while Split("a:b:c", ":", 2) returns the array {"a", "b:c"}.

When the Split function encounters two delimiters in a row, or a delimiter at the beginning or end of the string, it interprets them as surrounding an empty string (""). For example, Split("xx", "x") returns the array containing three empty strings: one from between the beginning of the string and the first "x", one from between the two "x" strings, and one from between the last "x" and the end of the string.

This table demonstrates how the optional Delimiter, Limit, and Compare parameters can change the behavior of the Split function.

The Compare argument can have the following values.

• Join
• CompareMethod
• String Manipulation Summary