@LIST = split(/PATTERN/, STRING, LIMIT);
Perl's
split() function is used to break a string into an array on a specific pattern. The
PATTERN is a regular expression that can be as simple as a single character. By default the
STRING is split on every instance of the
PATTERN, but you can
LIMIT it to a specific number of instances.
$myNames = "Jacob,Michael,Joshua,Matthew,Ethan,Andrew";
@nameList = split(/,/, $myNames);
In the above example, the
split function takes a plain string of names, separated by commas. It then breaks the string apart on each instance of the comma, putting the results into the array
@nameList. The value of
@nameList would then be:
@myNames = ('Jacob', 'Michael', 'Joshua', 'Matthew', 'Ethan', 'Andrew');
By using the
LIMIT option, you can split the array into a specific size. For example:
$myNames = "Jacob,Michael,Joshua,Matthew,Ethan,Andrew";
@nameList = split(/,/, $myNames, 3);
This would split the array into 3 chunks, so the value of
@nameList would then be:
@myNames = ('Jacob', 'Michael', 'Joshua,Matthew,Ethan,Andrew');
