JavaScript: The Definitive Guide, Fourth Edition

Name

String.split( ) — break a string into an array of strings

Availability

JavaScript 1.1; JScript 3.0; ECMAScript v1; enhanced in ECMAScript v3

Synopsis

                  string.split(delimiter, limit)

Arguments

delimiter

The string or regular expression at which the string splits. The use of a regular expression as a delimiter is standardized by ECMAScript v3 and implemented in JavaScript 1.2 and JScript 3.0; it is not implemented in JavaScript 1.1.

limit

This optional integer specifies the maximum length of the returned array. If specified, no more than this number of substrings will be returned. If not specified, the entire string will be split, regardless of its length. This argument is standardized by ECMAScript v3 and implemented in JavaScript 1.2 and JScript 3.0; it is not implemented in JavaScript 1.1.

Returns

An array of strings, created by splitting string into substrings at the boundaries specified by delimiter. The substrings in the returned array do not include delimiter itself, except in the case noted below.

Description

The split( ) method creates and returns an array of as many as limit substrings of the specified string. These substrings are created by searching the string from start to end for text that matches delimiter and breaking the string before and after that matching text. The delimiting text is not included in any of the returned substrings, except as noted below. Note that if the delimiter matches the beginning of the string, the first element of the returned array will ...