Linux manual pages Section 3  

Name

strsep — extract token from string

Synopsis

#include <string.h>
char *strsep( char **stringp,
  const char *delim);
 
[Note] Note
Feature Test Macro Requirements for glibc (see feature_test_macros(7)):
strsep():
_BSD_SOURCE

DESCRIPTION

If *stringp is NULL, the strsep() function returns NULL and does nothing else. Otherwise, this function finds the first token in the string *stringp, where tokens are delimited by symbols in the string delim. This token is terminated with a '\0' character (by overwriting the delimiter) and *stringp is updated to point past the token. In case no delimiter was found, the token is taken to be the entire string *stringp, and *stringp is made NULL.

RETURN VALUE

The strsep() function returns a pointer to the token, that is, it returns the original value of *stringp.

CONFORMING TO

4.4BSD.

NOTES

The strsep() function was introduced as a replacement for strtok(3), since the latter cannot handle empty fields. However, strtok(3) conforms to C89/C99 and hence is more portable.

BUGS

Be cautious when using this function. If you do use it, note that:

  • This function modifies its first argument.

  • This function cannot be used on constant strings.

  • The identity of the delimiting character is lost.

SEE ALSO

index(3), memchr(3), rindex(3), strchr(3), strpbrk(3), strspn(3), strstr(3), strtok(3)

COLOPHON

This page is part of release 3.24 of the Linux man-pages project. A description of the project, and information about reporting bugs, can be found at http://www.kernel.org/doc/man-pages/.


  Copyright 1993 David Metcalfe (davidprism.demon.co.uk)

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References consulted:
    Linux libc source code
    Lewine's _POSIX Programmer's Guide_ (O'Reilly & Associates, 1991)
    386BSD man pages
Modified Sat Jul 24 18:00:10 1993 by Rik Faith (faithcs.unc.edu)
Modified Mon Jan 20 12:04:18 1997 by Andries Brouwer (aebcwi.nl)
Modified Tue Jan 23 20:23:07 2001 by Andries Brouwer (aebcwi.nl)