Splits a string based on a single character separator and returns an array.

The function is added to the string library and may be called using either the string.split(strText,”+”) or the strText:split(“+”) format as shown in the examples.

Requires: None

Code

-- Split a String
-- parameter sep  Separator, if not supplied uses a comma
-- returns a table containing the fields.
function string.split(strTxt,strSep)
	local tblFields = {}
	local strPattern = string.format("([^%s]+)", strSep or ",")
	strTxt = tostring(strTxt or "")
	strTxt:gsub(strPattern, function(strField) tblFields[#tblFields+1] = strField end)
	return tblFields
end -- function string.split

Usage

local strString = "Alpha,Gamma,Epsilon"
local tblFields = string.split(strString)		-- Split strString using default comma
print( tblFields[1], tblFields[2], tblFields[3] )	-->>	Alpha	Gamma	Epsilon

local strString = "Alpha+Gamma+Epsilon"
local tblFields = strString:split("+")			-- Split strString using + sign
print( tblFields[1], tblFields[2], tblFields[3] )	-->>	Alpha	Gamma	Epsilon