explode_reversible

NAME

explode_reversible() - split a string on a delimiter without losing empty tokens

SYNOPSIS

string *explode_reversible(string str, string delimiter);

DESCRIPTION

Splits `str` into an array of substrings on each occurrence of
`delimiter`, exactly like explode(), but losslessly: it keeps the empty
tokens that plain explode() discards. Empty pieces produced by a leading
delimiter, a trailing delimiter, or two adjacent delimiters are all
preserved as empty strings in the result.

Because no information is dropped, the split is exactly reversible:

    implode(explode_reversible(str, delimiter), delimiter) == str

holds for any `str` and any non-empty `delimiter`. Use this when you need
to round-trip a string through a split/join cycle unchanged, where
explode()'s pruning of empty fields would corrupt the data.

EXAMPLE

string *parts = explode_reversible("a,,b,", ",");
// parts == ({ "a", "", "b", "" })
// implode(parts, ",") == "a,,b,"

explode("a,,b,", ",");
// ({ "a", "b" })  -- empty fields dropped, not reversible

SEE ALSO

explode(3), implode(3)