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Old Pedant · 12-29-2012, 10:47 PM

In point of fact, using .split("[; ]") could very well lead to the wrong results if there *ARE* spaces in the string that is split.

Clearly if you had the string

Code:

1 potato; 2 potato; 3 potato more

You would get the array

Code:

1 potato;
 2 potato;
 3 potato more

if you simply split on ";" (notice the spaces at the beginning of the 2nd and 3rd elements.
).

But you would get

Code:

1
potato
[empty string]
2
potato
[empty string]
3
potato
more

if you split on "[; ]"

Possibly more useful would be to split on ";\\s*" ???

That would get you

Code:

1 potato;
2 potato;
3 potato more

getting rid of those leading spaces.

12-29-2012, 10:47 PM	PM User \| #9
Old Pedant Supreme Master coder! Join Date: Feb 2009 Posts: 23,162 Thanks: 59 Thanked 3,992 Times in 3,961 Posts	In point of fact, using `.split("[; ]")` could very well lead to the wrong results if there ARE spaces in the string that is split. Clearly if you had the string Code: 1 potato; 2 potato; 3 potato more You would get the array Code: 1 potato; 2 potato; 3 potato more if you simply split on ";" (notice the spaces at the beginning of the 2nd and 3rd elements. ). But you would get Code: 1 potato [empty string] 2 potato [empty string] 3 potato more if you split on "[; ]" Possibly more useful would be to split on ";\\s*" ??? That would get you Code: 1 potato; 2 potato; 3 potato more getting rid of those leading spaces. __________________ An optimist sees the glass as half full. A pessimist sees the glass as half empty. A realist drinks it no matter how much there is.