Parse (split) a string in C++ using string delimiter (standard C++)

Question

I am parsing a string in C++ using the following:

using namespace std;

string parsed,input="text to be parsed";
stringstream input_stringstream(input);

if (getline(input_stringstream,parsed,' '))
{
     // do some processing.
}

Parsing with a single char delimiter is fine. But what if I want to use a string as delimiter.

Example: I want to split:

scott>=tiger

with >= as delimiter so that I can get scott and tiger.

Answer 1

You can use the std::string::find() function to find the position of your string delimiter, then use std::string::substr() to get a token.

Example:

std::string s = "scott>=tiger";
std::string delimiter = ">=";
std::string token = s.substr(0, s.find(delimiter)); // token is "scott"

• The find(const string& str, size_t pos = 0) function returns the position of the first occurrence of str in the string, or npos if the string is not found.

• The substr(size_t pos = 0, size_t n = npos) function returns a substring of the object, starting at position pos and of length npos.

---

If you have multiple delimiters, after you have extracted one token, you can remove it (delimiter included) to proceed with subsequent extractions (if you want to preserve the original string, just use s = s.substr(pos + delimiter.length());):

s.erase(0, s.find(delimiter) + delimiter.length());

This way you can easily loop to get each token.

Complete Example

std::string s = "scott>=tiger>=mushroom";
std::string delimiter = ">=";

size_t pos = 0;
std::string token;
while ((pos = s.find(delimiter)) != std::string::npos) {
    token = s.substr(0, pos);
    std::cout << token << std::endl;
    s.erase(0, pos + delimiter.length());
}
std::cout << s << std::endl;

Output:

scott
tiger
mushroom

Answer 2

For string delimiter

Split string based on a string delimiter. Such as splitting string "adsf-+qwret-+nvfkbdsj-+orthdfjgh-+dfjrleih" based on string delimiter "-+", output will be {"adsf", "qwret", "nvfkbdsj", "orthdfjgh", "dfjrleih"}

#include <iostream>
#include <sstream>
#include <vector>

// for string delimiter
std::vector<std::string> split(std::string s, std::string delimiter) {
    size_t pos_start = 0, pos_end, delim_len = delimiter.length();
    std::string token;
    std::vector<std::string> res;

    while ((pos_end = s.find(delimiter, pos_start)) != std::string::npos) {
        token = s.substr (pos_start, pos_end - pos_start);
        pos_start = pos_end + delim_len;
        res.push_back (token);
    }

    res.push_back (s.substr (pos_start));
    return res;
}

int main() {
    std::string str = "adsf-+qwret-+nvfkbdsj-+orthdfjgh-+dfjrleih";
    std::string delimiter = "-+";
    std::vector<std::string> v = split (str, delimiter);

    for (auto i : v) cout << i << endl;

    return 0;
}

**Output**

adsf
qwret
nvfkbdsj
orthdfjgh
dfjrleih

For single character delimiter

Split string based on a character delimiter. For example, splitting string "adsf+qwer+poui+fdgh" with delimiter "+" will output {"adsf", "qwer", "poui", "fdgh"}

#include <iostream>
#include <sstream>
#include <vector>

std::vector<std::string> split (const std::string &s, char delim) {
    std::vector<std::string> result;
    std::stringstream ss (s);
    std::string item;

    while (getline (ss, item, delim)) {
        result.push_back (item);
    }

    return result;
}

int main() {
    std::string str = "adsf+qwer+poui+fdgh";
    std::vector<std::string> v = split (str, '+');

    for (auto i : v) cout << i << endl;

    return 0;
}

**Output**

adsf
qwer
poui
fdgh

Answer 3

This method uses std::string::find without mutating the original string by remembering the beginning and end of the previous substring token.

#include <iostream>
#include <string>

int main()
{
    std::string s = "scott>=tiger";
    std::string delim = ">=";

    auto start = 0U;
    auto end = s.find(delim);
    while (end != std::string::npos)
    {
        std::cout << s.substr(start, end - start) << std::endl;
        start = end + delim.length();
        end = s.find(delim, start);
    }

    std::cout << s.substr(start, end);
}

Answer 4

You can use next function to split string:

vector<string> split(const string& str, const string& delim)
{
    vector<string> tokens;
    size_t prev = 0, pos = 0;
    do
    {
        pos = str.find(delim, prev);
        if (pos == string::npos) pos = str.length();
        string token = str.substr(prev, pos-prev);
        if (!token.empty()) tokens.push_back(token);
        prev = pos + delim.length();
    }
    while (pos < str.length() && prev < str.length());
    return tokens;
}

Answer 5

A way of doing it with C++20:

#include <iostream>
#include <ranges>
#include <string_view>

int main()
{
    std::string hello = "text to be parsed";
    auto split = hello
        | std::ranges::views::split(' ')
        | std::ranges::views::transform([](auto&& str) { return std::string_view(&*str.begin(), std::ranges::distance(str)); });

    for (auto&& word : split)
    {
        std::cout << word << std::endl;
    }
}

See:
https://stackoverflow.com/a/48403210/10771848
https://en.cppreference.com/w/cpp/ranges/split_view

Answer 6

You can also use regex for this:

std::vector<std::string> split(const std::string str, const std::string regex_str)
{
    std::regex regexz(regex_str);
    std::vector<std::string> list(std::sregex_token_iterator(str.begin(), str.end(), regexz, -1),
                                  std::sregex_token_iterator());
    return list;
}

which is equivalent to :

std::vector<std::string> split(const std::string str, const std::string regex_str)
{
    std::sregex_token_iterator token_iter(str.begin(), str.end(), regexz, -1);
    std::sregex_token_iterator end;
    std::vector<std::string> list;
    while (token_iter != end)
    {
        list.emplace_back(*token_iter++);
    }
    return list;
}

and use it like this :

#include <iostream>
#include <string>
#include <regex>

std::vector<std::string> split(const std::string str,
                               const std::string regex_str) {
    std::regex regexz(regex_str);
    return {std::sregex_token_iterator(str.begin(), str.end(), regexz, -1),
            std::sregex_token_iterator()};
}

int main()
{
    std::string input_str = "lets split this";
    std::string regex_str = " "; 
    auto tokens = split(input_str, regex_str);
    for (auto& item: tokens)
    {
        std::cout<<item <<std::endl;
    }
}

play with it online!

you can simply use substrings, characters, etc like normal, or use actual regular expressions to do the splitting.
its also concise and C++11!

Answer 7

This code splits lines from text, and add everyone into a vector.

vector<string> split(char *phrase, string delimiter){
    vector<string> list;
    string s = string(phrase);
    size_t pos = 0;
    string token;
    while ((pos = s.find(delimiter)) != string::npos) {
        token = s.substr(0, pos);
        list.push_back(token);
        s.erase(0, pos + delimiter.length());
    }
    list.push_back(s);
    return list;
}

Called by:

vector<string> listFilesMax = split(buffer, "\n");

Answer 8

strtok allows you to pass in multiple chars as delimiters. I bet if you passed in ">=" your example string would be split correctly (even though the > and = are counted as individual delimiters).

EDIT if you don't want to use c_str() to convert from string to char*, you can use substr and find_first_of to tokenize.

string token, mystring("scott>=tiger");
while(token != mystring){
  token = mystring.substr(0,mystring.find_first_of(">="));
  mystring = mystring.substr(mystring.find_first_of(">=") + 1);
  printf("%s ",token.c_str());
}

Answer 9

Answer is already there, but selected-answer uses erase function which is very costly, think of some very big string(in MBs). Therefore I use below function.

vector<string> split(const string& str, const string& delim)
{
    vector<string> result;
    size_t start = 0;

    for (size_t found = str.find(delim); found != string::npos; found = str.find(delim, start))
    {
        result.emplace_back(str.begin() + start, str.begin() + found);
        start = found + delim.size();
    }
    if (start != str.size())
        result.emplace_back(str.begin() + start, str.end());
    return result;      
}

Answer 10

I would use boost::tokenizer. Here's documentation explaining how to make an appropriate tokenizer function: http://www.boost.org/doc/libs/1_52_0/libs/tokenizer/tokenizerfunction.htm

Here's one that works for your case.

struct my_tokenizer_func
{
    template<typename It>
    bool operator()(It& next, It end, std::string & tok)
    {
        if (next == end)
            return false;
        char const * del = ">=";
        auto pos = std::search(next, end, del, del + 2);
        tok.assign(next, pos);
        next = pos;
        if (next != end)
            std::advance(next, 2);
        return true;
    }

    void reset() {}
};

int main()
{
    std::string to_be_parsed = "1) one>=2) two>=3) three>=4) four";
    for (auto i : boost::tokenizer<my_tokenizer_func>(to_be_parsed))
        std::cout << i << '\n';
}

Answer 11

Here's my take on this. It handles the edge cases and takes an optional parameter to remove empty entries from the results.

bool endsWith(const std::string& s, const std::string& suffix)
{
    return s.size() >= suffix.size() &&
           s.substr(s.size() - suffix.size()) == suffix;
}

std::vector<std::string> split(const std::string& s, const std::string& delimiter, const bool removeEmptyEntries = false)
{
    std::vector<std::string> tokens;

    for (size_t start = 0, end; start < s.length(); start = end + delimiter.length())
    {
         size_t position = s.find(delimiter, start);
         end = position != std::string::npos ? position : s.length();

         std::string token = s.substr(start, end - start);
         if (!removeEmptyEntries || !token.empty())
         {
             tokens.push_back(token);
         }
    }

    if (!removeEmptyEntries &&
        (s.empty() || endsWith(s, delimiter)))
    {
        tokens.push_back("");
    }

    return tokens;
}

Examples

split("a-b-c", "-"); // [3]("a","b","c")

split("a--c", "-"); // [3]("a","","c")

split("-b-", "-"); // [3]("","b","")

split("--c--", "-"); // [5]("","","c","","")

split("--c--", "-", true); // [1]("c")

split("a", "-"); // [1]("a")

split("", "-"); // [1]("")

split("", "-", true); // [0]()

Answer 12

This should work perfectly for string (or single character) delimiters. Don't forget to include #include <sstream>.

std::string input = "Alfa=,+Bravo=,+Charlie=,+Delta";
std::string delimiter = "=,+"; 
std::istringstream ss(input);
std::string token;
std::string::iterator it;

while(std::getline(ss, token, *(it = delimiter.begin()))) {
    std::cout << token << std::endl; // Token is extracted using '='
    it++;
    // Skip the rest of delimiter if exists ",+"
    while(it != delimiter.end() and ss.peek() == *(it)) { 
        it++; ss.get(); 
    }
}

The first while loop extracts a token using the first character of the string delimiter. The second while loop skips the rest of the delimiter and stops at the beginning of the next token.

Answer 13

A very simple/naive approach:

vector<string> words_seperate(string s){
    vector<string> ans;
    string w="";
    for(auto i:s){
        if(i==' '){
           ans.push_back(w);
           w="";
        }
        else{
           w+=i;
        }
    }
    ans.push_back(w);
    return ans;
}

Or you can use boost library split function:

vector<string> result; 
boost::split(result, input, boost::is_any_of("\t"));

Or You can try TOKEN or strtok:

char str[] = "DELIMIT-ME-C++"; 
char *token = strtok(str, "-"); 
while (token) 
{ 
    cout<<token; 
    token = strtok(NULL, "-"); 
} 

Or You can do this:

char split_with=' ';
vector<string> words;
string token; 
stringstream ss(our_string);
while(getline(ss , token , split_with)) words.push_back(token);

Answer 14

Just in case in the future, someone wants out of the box function of Vincenzo Pii 's answer

#include <vector>
#include <string>


std::vector<std::string> SplitString(
    std::string str,
    std::string delimeter)
{
    std::vector<std::string> splittedStrings = {};
    size_t pos = 0;

    while ((pos = str.find(delimeter)) != std::string::npos)
    {
        std::string token = str.substr(0, pos);
        if (token.length() > 0)
            splittedStrings.push_back(token);
        str.erase(0, pos + delimeter.length());
    }

    if (str.length() > 0)
        splittedStrings.push_back(str);
    return splittedStrings;
}

I also fixed some bugs so that the function won't return an empty string if there is a delimiter at the start or the end of the string

Answer 15

This is a complete method that splits the string on any delimiter and returns a vector of the chopped up strings.

It is an adaptation from the answer from ryanbwork. However, his check for: if(token != mystring) gives wrong results if you have repeating elements in your string. This is my solution to that problem.

vector<string> Split(string mystring, string delimiter)
{
    vector<string> subStringList;
    string token;
    while (true)
    {
        size_t findfirst = mystring.find(delimiter);
        if (findfirst == string::npos) //find returns npos if it couldn't find the delimiter anymore
        {
            subStringList.push_back(mystring); //push back the final piece of mystring
            return subStringList;
        }
        token = mystring.substr(0, mystring.find(delimiter));
        mystring = mystring.substr(mystring.find(delimiter) + delimiter.size());
        subStringList.push_back(token);
    }
    return subStringList;
}

Answer 16

I make this solution. It is very simple, all the prints/values are in the loop (no need to check after the loop).

#include <iostream>
#include <string>

using std::cout;
using std::string;

int main() {
    string s = "it-+is-+working!";
    string d = "-+";

    int firstFindI = 0;
    int secendFindI = 0;
    while (secendFindI != string::npos)
    {
        secendFindI = s.find(d, firstFindI);
        cout << s.substr(firstFindI, secendFindI - firstFindI) << "\n"; // print sliced part
        firstFindI = secendFindI + d.size(); // add to the search index
    }
}

Thanks to @SteveWard for improving this answer.

Answer 17

This is similar to other answers but it's using string_view. So these are just views for the original string. Similar to the c++20 example. Though this would be a c++17 example. (edit to skip empty matches)

#include <algorithm>
#include <iostream>
#include <string_view>
#include <vector>
std::vector<std::string_view> split(std::string_view buffer,
                                    const std::string_view delimeter = " ") {
  std::vector<std::string_view> ret{};
  std::decay_t<decltype(std::string_view::npos)> pos{};
  while ((pos = buffer.find(delimeter)) != std::string_view::npos) {
    const auto match = buffer.substr(0, pos);
    if (!match.empty()) ret.push_back(match);
    buffer = buffer.substr(pos + delimeter.size());
  }
  if (!buffer.empty()) ret.push_back(buffer);
  return ret;
}
int main() {
  const auto split_values = split("1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9     10 ");
  std::for_each(split_values.begin(), split_values.end(),
                [](const auto& str) { std::cout << str << '\n'; });
  return split_values.size();
}

Answer 18

Since this is the top-rated Stack Overflow Google search result for C++ split string or similar, I'll post a complete, copy/paste runnable example that shows both methods.

splitString uses stringstream (probably the better and easier option in most cases)

splitString2 uses find and substr (a more manual approach)

// SplitString.cpp

#include <iostream>
#include <vector>
#include <string>
#include <sstream>

// function prototypes
std::vector<std::string> splitString(const std::string& str, char delim);
std::vector<std::string> splitString2(const std::string& str, char delim);
std::string getSubstring(const std::string& str, int leftIdx, int rightIdx);


int main(void)
{
  // Test cases - all will pass
  
  std::string str = "ab,cd,ef";
  //std::string str = "abcdef";
  //std::string str = "";
  //std::string str = ",cd,ef";
  //std::string str = "ab,cd,";   // behavior of splitString and splitString2 is different for this final case only, if this case matters to you choose which one you need as applicable
  
  
  std::vector<std::string> tokens = splitString(str, ',');
  
  std::cout << "tokens: " << "\n";
  
  if (tokens.empty())
  {
    std::cout << "(tokens is empty)" << "\n";
  }
  else
  {
    for (auto& token : tokens)
    {
      if (token == "") std::cout << "(empty string)" << "\n";
      else std::cout << token << "\n";
    }
  }
    
  return 0;
}

std::vector<std::string> splitString(const std::string& str, char delim)
{
  std::vector<std::string> tokens;
  
  if (str == "") return tokens;
  
  std::string currentToken;
  
  std::stringstream ss(str);
  
  while (std::getline(ss, currentToken, delim))
  {
    tokens.push_back(currentToken);
  }
  
  return tokens;
}

std::vector<std::string> splitString2(const std::string& str, char delim)
{
  std::vector<std::string> tokens;
  
  if (str == "") return tokens;
  
  int leftIdx = 0;
  
  int delimIdx = str.find(delim);
  
  int rightIdx;
  
  while (delimIdx != std::string::npos)
  {
    rightIdx = delimIdx - 1;
    
    std::string token = getSubstring(str, leftIdx, rightIdx);
    tokens.push_back(token);
    
    // prep for next time around
    leftIdx = delimIdx + 1;
    
    delimIdx = str.find(delim, delimIdx + 1);
  }
  
  rightIdx = str.size() - 1;
  
  std::string token = getSubstring(str, leftIdx, rightIdx);
  tokens.push_back(token);
  
  return tokens;
}

std::string getSubstring(const std::string& str, int leftIdx, int rightIdx)
{
  return str.substr(leftIdx, rightIdx - leftIdx + 1);
}

Answer 19

Yet another answer: Here I'm using find_first_not_of string function which returns the position of the first character that does not match any of the characters specified in the delim.

size_t find_first_not_of(const string& delim, size_t pos = 0) const noexcept;

Example:

int main()
{
    size_t start = 0, end = 0;
    std::string str = "scott>=tiger>=cat";
    std::string delim = ">=";
    while ((start = str.find_first_not_of(delim, end)) != std::string::npos)
    {
        end = str.find(delim, start); // finds the 'first' occurance from the 'start'
        std::cout << str.substr(start, end - start)<<std::endl; // extract substring
    }
    return 0;
}

Output:

    scott
    tiger
    cat

Answer 20

If you do not want to modify the string (as in the answer by Vincenzo Pii) and want to output the last token as well, you may want to use this approach:

inline std::vector<std::string> splitString( const std::string &s, const std::string &delimiter ){
    std::vector<std::string> ret;
    size_t start = 0;
    size_t end = 0;
    size_t len = 0;
    std::string token;
    do{ end = s.find(delimiter,start); 
        len = end - start;
        token = s.substr(start, len);
        ret.emplace_back( token );
        start += len + delimiter.length();
        std::cout << token << std::endl;
    }while ( end != std::string::npos );
    return ret;
}

Answer 21

Here's a concise split function. I decided to have back to back delimiters return as an empty string but you could easily check that if the substring is empty and not add it to the vector if it is.

#include <vector>
#include <string>
using namespace std;



vector<string> split(string to_split, string delimiter) {
    size_t pos = 0;
    vector<string> matches{};
    do {
        pos = to_split.find(delimiter);
        int change_end;
        if (pos == string::npos) {
            pos = to_split.length() - 1;
            change_end = 1;
        }
        else {
            change_end = 0;
        }
        matches.push_back(to_split.substr(0, pos+change_end));
        
        to_split.erase(0, pos+1);

    }
    while (!to_split.empty());
    return matches;

}

Answer 22

This method use string find and string substr

vector<string> split(const string& str,const string delim){
vector<string> vtokens; 
size_t start = 0;
size_t end = 0;
while((end = str.find(delim,start))!=string::npos){
    vtokens.push_back(str.substr(start,end-start));
    start = end +1;
}
vtokens.push_back(str.substr(start));
return vtokens;
}

Answer 23

#include<iostream>
#include<algorithm>
using namespace std;

int split_count(string str,char delimit){
return count(str.begin(),str.end(),delimit);
}

void split(string str,char delimit,string res[]){
int a=0,i=0;
while(a<str.size()){
res[i]=str.substr(a,str.find(delimit));
a+=res[i].size()+1;
i++;
}
}

int main(){

string a="abc.xyz.mno.def";
int x=split_count(a,'.')+1;
string res[x];
split(a,'.',res);

for(int i=0;i<x;i++)
cout<<res[i]<<endl;
  return 0;
}

P.S: Works only if the lengths of the strings after splitting are equal

Answer 24

Function:

std::vector<std::string> WSJCppCore::split(const std::string& sWhat, const std::string& sDelim) {
    std::vector<std::string> vRet;
    size_t nPos = 0;
    size_t nLen = sWhat.length();
    size_t nDelimLen = sDelim.length();
    while (nPos < nLen) {
        std::size_t nFoundPos = sWhat.find(sDelim, nPos);
        if (nFoundPos != std::string::npos) {
            std::string sToken = sWhat.substr(nPos, nFoundPos - nPos);
            vRet.push_back(sToken);
            nPos = nFoundPos + nDelimLen;
            if (nFoundPos + nDelimLen == nLen) { // last delimiter
                vRet.push_back("");
            }
        } else {
            std::string sToken = sWhat.substr(nPos, nLen - nPos);
            vRet.push_back(sToken);
            break;
        }
    }
    return vRet;
}

Unit-tests:

bool UnitTestSplit::run() {
bool bTestSuccess = true;

    struct LTest {
        LTest(
            const std::string &sStr,
            const std::string &sDelim,
            const std::vector<std::string> &vExpectedVector
        ) {
            this->sStr = sStr;
            this->sDelim = sDelim;
            this->vExpectedVector = vExpectedVector;
        };
        std::string sStr;
        std::string sDelim;
        std::vector<std::string> vExpectedVector;
    };
    std::vector<LTest> tests;
    tests.push_back(LTest("1 2 3 4 5", " ", {"1", "2", "3", "4", "5"}));
    tests.push_back(LTest("|1f|2п|3%^|44354|5kdasjfdre|2", "|", {"", "1f", "2п", "3%^", "44354", "5kdasjfdre", "2"}));
    tests.push_back(LTest("|1f|2п|3%^|44354|5kdasjfdre|", "|", {"", "1f", "2п", "3%^", "44354", "5kdasjfdre", ""}));
    tests.push_back(LTest("some1 => some2 => some3", "=>", {"some1 ", " some2 ", " some3"}));
    tests.push_back(LTest("some1 => some2 => some3 =>", "=>", {"some1 ", " some2 ", " some3 ", ""}));

    for (int i = 0; i < tests.size(); i++) {
        LTest test = tests[i];
        std::string sPrefix = "test" + std::to_string(i) + "(\"" + test.sStr + "\")";
        std::vector<std::string> vSplitted = WSJCppCore::split(test.sStr, test.sDelim);
        compareN(bTestSuccess, sPrefix + ": size", vSplitted.size(), test.vExpectedVector.size());
        int nMin = std::min(vSplitted.size(), test.vExpectedVector.size());
        for (int n = 0; n < nMin; n++) {
            compareS(bTestSuccess, sPrefix + ", element: " + std::to_string(n), vSplitted[n], test.vExpectedVector[n]);
        }
    }

    return bTestSuccess;
}

Answer 25

std::vector<std::string> parse(std::string str,std::string delim){
    std::vector<std::string> tokens;
    char *str_c = strdup(str.c_str()); 
    char* token = NULL;

    token = strtok(str_c, delim.c_str()); 
    while (token != NULL) { 
        tokens.push_back(std::string(token));  
        token = strtok(NULL, delim.c_str()); 
    }

    delete[] str_c;

    return tokens;
}

Answer 26

template<typename C, typename T>
auto insert_in_container(C& c, T&& t) -> decltype(c.push_back(std::forward<T>(t)), void()) {
    c.push_back(std::forward<T>(t));
}
template<typename C, typename T>
auto insert_in_container(C& c, T&& t) -> decltype(c.insert(std::forward<T>(t)), void()) {
    c.insert(std::forward<T>(t));
}
template<typename Container>
Container splitR(const std::string& input, const std::string& delims) {
    Container out;
    size_t delims_len = delims.size();
    auto begIdx = 0u;
    auto endIdx = input.find(delims, begIdx);
    if (endIdx == std::string::npos && input.size() != 0u) {
        insert_in_container(out, input);
    }
    else {
        size_t w = 0;
        while (endIdx != std::string::npos) {
            w = endIdx - begIdx;
            if (w != 0) insert_in_container(out, input.substr(begIdx, w));
            begIdx = endIdx + delims_len;
            endIdx = input.find(delims, begIdx);
        }
        w = input.length() - begIdx;
        if (w != 0) insert_in_container(out, input.substr(begIdx, w));
    }
    return out;
}

Answer 27

i use pointer arithmetic. inner while for string delimeter if you satify with char delim just remove inner while simply. i hope it is correct. if you notice any mistake or improve please leave the comment.

std::vector<std::string> split(std::string s, std::string delim)
{
    char *p = &s[0];
    char *d = &delim[0];
    std::vector<std::string> res = {""};

    do
    {
        bool is_delim = true;
        char *pp = p;
        char *dd = d;
        while (*dd && is_delim == true)
            if (*pp++ != *dd++)
                is_delim = false;

        if (is_delim)
        {
            p = pp - 1;
            res.push_back("");
        }
        else
            *(res.rbegin()) += *p;
    } while (*p++);

    return res;
}

Answer 28

A simpler solution would be -

You can use strtok to delimit on the basis of multichar delimiter. Remember to use strdup so that the orignal string isn't mutated.

#include <stdio.h>
#include <string.h>
const char* str = "scott>=tiger";
char *token = strtok(strdup(str), ">=");
while (token != NULL)
    {
        printf("%s\n", token);
        token = strtok(NULL, ">=");
    }

Answer 29

I looked through the answers and haven't seen an iterator based approach that can be fed into a range loop, so I made one.

This uses C++17 string_views so it shouldn't allocate copies of the string.

struct StringSplit
{
    struct Iterator
    {
        size_t tokenStart_ = 0;
        size_t tokenEnd_ = 0;
        std::string str_;
        std::string_view view_;
        std::string delimiter_;
        bool done_ = false;

        Iterator()
        {
            // End iterator.
            done_ = true;
        }

        Iterator(std::string str, std::string delimiter)
            : str_{std::move(str)}, view_{str_}, delimiter_{
                                                     std::move(delimiter)}
        {
            tokenEnd_ = view_.find(delimiter_, tokenStart_);
        }

        std::string_view operator*()
        {
            return view_.substr(tokenStart_, tokenEnd_ - tokenStart_);
        }

        Iterator &operator++()
        {
            if (tokenEnd_ == std::string::npos)
            {
                done_ = true;
                return *this;
            }

            tokenStart_ = tokenEnd_ + delimiter_.size();
            tokenEnd_ = view_.find(delimiter_, tokenStart_);
            return *this;
        }

        bool operator!=(Iterator &other)
        {
            // We only check if both points to the end.
            if (done_ && other.done_)
            {
                return false;
            }

            return true;
        }
    };

    Iterator beginIter_;

    StringSplit(std::string str, std::string delim)
        : beginIter_{std::move(str), std::move(delim)}
    {
    }

    Iterator begin()
    {
        return beginIter_;
    }

    Iterator end()
    {
        return Iterator{};
    }
};

And example usage would be:

int main()
{
    for (auto token : StringSplit{"<>foo<>bar<><>bar<><>baz<><>", "<>"})
    {
        std::cout << "TOKEN: '" << token << "'" << std::endl;
    }
}

Which prints:

TOKEN: ''
TOKEN: 'foo'
TOKEN: 'bar'
TOKEN: ''
TOKEN: 'bar'
TOKEN: ''
TOKEN: 'baz'
TOKEN: ''
TOKEN: ''

It properly handles empty entries at the beginning and end of the string.

Answer 30

Here is an example of splitting a string with another string using Boost String Algorithms library and Boost Range library. The solution is inspired with (modest) suggestion from the the StringAlgo library documentation, see the Split section.

Below is a complete program with the split_with_string function as well as comprehensive test - try it with godbolt:

#include <iostream>
#include <string>
#include <vector>
#include <boost/algorithm/string.hpp>
#include <boost/range/iterator_range.hpp>

std::vector<std::string> split_with_string(std::string_view s, std::string_view search) 
{
    if (search.empty()) return {std::string{s}};

    std::vector<boost::iterator_range<std::string_view::iterator>> found;
    boost::algorithm::ifind_all(found, s, search);
    if (found.empty()) return {};

    std::vector<std::string> parts;
    parts.reserve(found.size() + 2); // a bit more

    std::string_view::iterator part_begin = s.cbegin(), part_end;
    for (auto& split_found : found)
    {
        // do not skip empty extracts
        part_end = split_found.begin();
        parts.emplace_back(part_begin, part_end);
        part_begin = split_found.end();
    }
    if (part_end != s.end())
        parts.emplace_back(part_begin, s.end());

    return parts;
}

#define TEST(expr) std::cout << ((!(expr)) ? "FAIL" : "PASS") << ": " #expr "\t" << std::endl

int main()
{
    auto s0 = split_with_string("adsf-+qwret-+nvfkbdsj", "");
    TEST(s0.size() == 1);
    TEST(s0.front() == "adsf-+qwret-+nvfkbdsj");
    auto s1 = split_with_string("adsf-+qwret-+nvfkbdsj", "-+");
    TEST(s1.size() == 3);
    TEST(s1.front() == "adsf");
    TEST(s1.back() == "nvfkbdsj");
    auto s2 = split_with_string("-+adsf-+qwret-+nvfkbdsj-+", "-+");
    TEST(s2.size() == 5);
    TEST(s2.front() == "");
    TEST(s2.back() == "");
    auto s3 = split_with_string("-+adsf-+qwret-+nvfkbdsj", "-+");
    TEST(s3.size() == 4);
    TEST(s3.front() == "");
    TEST(s3.back() == "nvfkbdsj");
    auto s4 = split_with_string("adsf-+qwret-+nvfkbdsj-+", "-+");
    TEST(s4.size() == 4);
    TEST(s4.front() == "adsf");
    TEST(s4.back() == "");
    auto s5 = split_with_string("dbo.abc", "dbo.");
    TEST(s5.size() == 2);
    TEST(s5.front() == "");
    TEST(s5.back() == "abc");
    auto s6 = split_with_string("dbo.abc", ".");
    TEST(s6.size() == 2);
    TEST(s6.front() == "dbo");
    TEST(s6.back() == "abc");
}

Tests output:

PASS: s0.size() == 1    
PASS: s0.front() == "adsf-+qwret-+nvfkbdsj" 
PASS: s1.size() == 3    
PASS: s1.front() == "adsf"  
PASS: s1.back() == "nvfkbdsj"   
PASS: s2.size() == 5    
PASS: s2.front() == ""  
PASS: s2.back() == ""   
PASS: s3.size() == 4    
PASS: s3.front() == ""  
PASS: s3.back() == "nvfkbdsj"   
PASS: s4.size() == 4    
PASS: s4.front() == "adsf"  
PASS: s4.back() == ""   
PASS: s5.size() == 2    
PASS: s5.front() == ""  
PASS: s5.back() == "abc"    
PASS: s6.size() == 2    
PASS: s6.front() == "dbo"   
PASS: s6.back() == "abc"    

Answer 31

Some answers lack a special case. If you have a csv where you want to read equal number of columns, the code fails for cases like this: Row1: a,b,c,d Row2: g,e,, For Row2 only 3 items are read

A special treatment at end of loop adds an empty string:

if (startIndex != str.size())
    result.emplace_back(str.begin() + startIndex, str.end());  
else if (result.size())     // min 1 separator found before. 
    result.emplace_back();

However it will not add a string if there is only 1 column without delim, which is filled in some rows with data and is empty for other rows

Answer 32

Yet another.... This one should be easy to add features to over time without changing the function signature since I used "flags" rather than separate bool options.

utils.h

#include <string>
#include <vector>

namespace utils
{
    void ltrim( std::string &s );
    void rtrim( std::string &s );
    void trim(  std::string &s );
    
    enum SplitFlags
    {
        SPLIT_TRIMMED  = 0x01
    ,   SPLIT_NO_EMPTY = 0x02
    };
    std::vector<std::string> split(
        const std::string &s, const char delimiter, const int flags=0 );
}

utils.cpp

#include <sstream>
#include <algorithm>
#include <cctype>
#include <locale>

#include "utils.h"

void utils::ltrim( std::string &s )
{
    s.erase( s.begin(), std::find_if( s.begin(), s.end(),
        []( unsigned char ch ) { return !std::isspace( ch ); } ) );
}

void utils::rtrim( std::string &s )
{
    s.erase( std::find_if( s.rbegin(), s.rend(),
        []( unsigned char ch ) { return !std::isspace( ch ); } ).base(), s.end() );
}

void utils::trim( std::string &s )
{
    rtrim( s );
    ltrim( s );
}
    
std::vector<std::string> utils::split(
    const std::string &s, const char delimiter, const int flags )
{
    const bool trimmed( flags & SPLIT_TRIMMED  )
             , noEmpty( flags & SPLIT_NO_EMPTY )
    ;
    std::vector<std::string> tokens;
    std::stringstream ss( s );
    for( std::string t; getline( ss, t, delimiter ); )
    {
        if( trimmed ) trim( t );
        if( noEmpty && t.empty() ) continue;
        tokens.push_back( t );
    }
    return tokens;
}

Example use:

const auto parts( utils::split( 
    " , a g , b, c, ", ',', utils::SPLIT_TRIMMED | utils::SPLIT_NO_EMPTY ) );

Answer 33

As a bonus, here is a code example of a split function and macro that is easy to use and where you can choose the container type :

#include <iostream>
#include <vector>
#include <string>

#define split(str, delim, type) (split_fn<type<std::string>>(str, delim))
 
template <typename Container>
Container split_fn(const std::string& str, char delim = ' ') {
    Container cont{};
    std::size_t current, previous = 0;
    current = str.find(delim);
    while (current != std::string::npos) {
        cont.push_back(str.substr(previous, current - previous));
        previous = current + 1;
        current = str.find(delim, previous);
    }
    cont.push_back(str.substr(previous, current - previous));
    
    return cont;
}

int main() {
    
    auto test = std::string{"This is a great test"};
    auto res = split(test, ' ', std::vector);
    
    for(auto &i : res) {
        std::cout << i << ", "; // "this", "is", "a", "great", "test"
    }
    
    
    return 0;
}

Answer 34

Since C++11 it can be done like this:

std::vector<std::string> splitString(const std::string& str,
                                     const std::regex& regex)
{
  return {std::sregex_token_iterator{str.begin(), str.end(), regex, -1}, 
          std::sregex_token_iterator() };
} 

// usually we have a predefined set of regular expressions: then
// let's build those only once and re-use them multiple times
static const std::regex regex1(R"some-reg-exp1", std::regex::optimize);
static const std::regex regex2(R"some-reg-exp2", std::regex::optimize);
static const std::regex regex3(R"some-reg-exp3", std::regex::optimize);

string str = "some string to split";
std::vector<std::string> tokens( splitString(str, regex1) ); 

Notes:

• this is a small improvement to this answer
• see also Optimization techniques used by std::regex_constants::optimize

Answer 35

std::vector<std::string> split(const std::string& s, char c) {
  std::vector<std::string> v;
  unsigned int ii = 0;
  unsigned int j = s.find(c);
  while (j < s.length()) {
    v.push_back(s.substr(i, j - i));
    i = ++j;
    j = s.find(c, j);
    if (j >= s.length()) {
      v.push_back(s.substr(i, s,length()));
      break;
    }
  }
  return v;
}