Split() String method in Java with examples

Difficulty Level : Easy
Last Updated : 04 Dec, 2018

The string split() method breaks a given string around matches of the given regular expression.

For Example:

Input String: 016-78967
Regular Expression: - 
Output : {"016", "78967"}

Following are the two variants of split() method in Java:

1. Public String [ ] split ( String regex, int limit )

Parameters:
regex - a delimiting regular expression
Limit - the result threshold

Returns:
An array of strings computed by splitting the given string.

Throws:
PatternSyntaxException - if the provided regular expression’s 
                         syntax is invalid.

Limit parameter can have 3 values:

limit > 0 : If this is the case then the pattern will be
            applied at most limit-1 times, the resulting 
            array’s length will not be more than n, and 
            the resulting array’s last entry will contain
            all input beyond the last matched pattern.
limit < 0 : In this case, the pattern will be applied as
            many times as possible, and the resulting 
            array can be of any size.
limit = 0 : In this case, the pattern will be applied as 
            many times as possible, the resulting array can 
            be of any size, and trailing empty strings will
            be discarded.

Here’s how it works:


Let the string to be splitted be : geekss@for@geekss

Regex       Limit             Result
@           2         {“geekss”, ”for@geekss”}
@           5         {“geekss”, ”for”, ”geekss”}    
@           -2       {“geekss”, ”for”, ”geekss”}
s           5        {“geek”, ”“, “@for@geek”, “”, “”}
s           -2       {“geek”, ” “, “@for@geek”, “”, “”}
s           0        {“geek”, ””, ”@for@geek”}

Following are the Java example codes to demonstrate working of split()

Example 1:

// Java program to demonstrate working of split(regex,
// limit) with small limit.
public class GFG {
    public static void main(String args[])
    {
        String str = "geekss@for@geekss";
        String[] arrOfStr = str.split("@", 2);
  
        for (String a : arrOfStr)
            System.out.println(a);
    }
}

Output:

geekss
for@geekss

Example 2:

// Java program to demonstrate working of split(regex,
// limit) with high limit.
public class GFG {
    public static void main(String args[])
    {
        String str = "geekss@for@geekss";
        String[] arrOfStr = str.split("@", 5);
  
        for (String a : arrOfStr)
            System.out.println(a);
    }
}

Output:

geekss
for
geekss

Example 3:

// Java program to demonstrate working of split(regex,
// limit) with negative limit.
public class GFG {
    public static void main(String args[])
    {
        String str = "geekss@for@geekss";
        String[] arrOfStr = str.split("@", -2);
  
        for (String a : arrOfStr)
            System.out.println(a);
    }
}

Output:

geekss
for
geekss

Example 4:

// Java program to demonstrate working of split(regex,
// limit) with high limit.
public class GFG {
    public static void main(String args[])
    {
        String str = "geekss@for@geekss";
        String[] arrOfStr = str.split("s", 5);
  
        for (String a : arrOfStr)
            System.out.println(a);
    }
}

Output:

geek

@for@geek

Example 5:

// Java program to demonstrate working of split(regex,
// limit) with negative limit.
public class GFG {
    public static void main(String args[])
    {
        String str = "geekss@for@geekss";
        String[] arrOfStr = str.split("s", -2);
  
        for (String a : arrOfStr)
            System.out.println(a);
    }
}

Output:

geek

@for@geek

Example 6:

// Java program to demonstrate working of split(regex,
// limit) with 0 limit.
public class GFG {
    public static void main(String args[])
    {
        String str = "geekss@for@geekss";
        String[] arrOfStr = str.split("s", 0);
  
        for (String a : arrOfStr)
            System.out.println(a);
    }
}

Output:

Geek

@for@geek

2. public String[] split(String regex)

This variant of split method takes a regular expression as parameter, and breaks the given string around matches of this regular expression regex. Here by default limit is 0.

Parameters:
regex - a delimiting regular expression


Returns:
An array of strings computed by splitting the given string.


Throws:
PatternSyntaxException - if the provided regular expression’s 
                         syntax is invalid.

Here are some working example codes:

Example 1:

// Java program to demonstrate working of split()
public class GFG {
    public static void main(String args[])
    {
        String str = "GeeksforGeeks:A Computer Science Portal";
        String[] arrOfStr = str.split(":");
  
        for (String a : arrOfStr)
            System.out.println(a);
    }
}

Output:

GeeksforGeeks
A Computer Science Portal

Example 2:

// Java program to demonstrate working of split()
public class GFG {
    public static void main(String args[])
    {
        String str = "GeeksforGeeksforStudents";
        String[] arrOfStr = str.split("for");
  
        for (String a : arrOfStr)
            System.out.println(a);
    }
}

Output:

Geeks
Geeks
Students

It can be seen in the above example that the pattern/regular expression “for” is applied twice (because “for” is present two times in the string to be splitted)

Example 3:

// Java program to demonstrate working of split()
public class GFG {
    public static void main(String args[])
    {
        String str = "Geeks for Geeks";
        String[] arrOfStr = str.split(" ");
  
        for (String a : arrOfStr)
            System.out.println(a);
    }
}

Output:

Geeks
for
Geeks

Example 4:

// Java program to demonstrate working of split()
public class GFG {
    public static void main(String args[])
    {
        String str = "Geekssss";
        String[] arrOfStr = str.split("s");
  
        for (String a : arrOfStr)
            System.out.println(a);
    }
}

Output:

Geek

In the above example that trailing empty strings are not included in the resulting array arrOfStr.

Example 5:

// Java program to demonstrate working of split()
public class GFG {
    public static void main(String args[])
    {
        String str = "GeeksforforGeeksfor   ";
        String[] arrOfStr = str.split("for");
  
        for (String a : arrOfStr)
            System.out.println(a);
    }
}

Output:

geeks

geeks

In the above example, the trailing spaces (hence not empty string) in the end becomes a string in the resulting array arrOfStr.

Example 6:

// Java program to demonstrate working of split() 
// using regular expressions
public class GFG {
    public static void main(String args[])
    {
        String str = "word1, word2 word3@word4?word5.word6";
        String[] arrOfStr = str.split("[, ?.@]+");
  
        for (String a : arrOfStr)
            System.out.println(a);
    }
}

word1
word2
word3
word4
word5
word6

In the above example, words are separated whenever either of the characters specified in the set is encountered.

This article is contributed by Vaibhav Bajpai. If you like GeeksforGeeks and would like to contribute, you can also write an article using contribute.geeksforgeeks.org or mail your article to contribute@geeksforgeeks.org. See your article appearing on the GeeksforGeeks main page and help other Geeks.

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