Split() String method in Java with examples

11 Jul, 2022
The string split() method breaks a given string around matches of the given regular expression. After splitting against the given regular expression, this method returns a string array.
Input String: 016-78967
Regular Expression: - 
Output : {"016", "78967"}
Following are the two variants of the split() method in Java: 
Parameters:
regex – a delimiting regular expression
Limit – the resulting threshold
Returns: An array of strings is computed by splitting the given string.
Exception Thrown: PatternSyntaxException – if the provided regular expression’s syntax is invalid.  
The 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 that is to be split is – geekss@for@geekss
Following are the Java example codes to demonstrate the working of split() Example 1:
Java
// Java program to demonstrate working of split(regex,// limit) with small limit.  public class GFG {      // Main driver method    public static void main(String args[])    {        // Custom input string        String str = "geekss@for@geekss";        String[] arrOfStr = str.split("@", 2);          for (String a : arrOfStr)            System.out.println(a);    }}
geekss
for@geekss
Example 2:  
Java
// 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);    }}
geekss
for
geekss
Example 3:  
Java
// 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);    }}
geekss
for
geekss
Example 4:  
Java
// 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);    }}
geek

@for@geek
Example 5:  
Java
// 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);    }}
geek

@for@geek
Example 6:  
Java
// 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);    }}
geek

@for@geek
This variant of the split method takes a regular expression as a 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 is computed by splitting the given string.
Exception Thrown: PatternSyntaxException – if the provided regular expression’s syntax is invalid.  
Here are some working example codes: Example 1:
Java
// 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);    }}
GeeksforGeeks
A Computer Science Portal
Example 2:
Java
// 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);    }}
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 split)
Example 3:  
Java
// 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);    }}
Geeks
for
Geeks
Example 4:
Java
// 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("[.]");   // str.split("."); will give no output...          for (String a : arrOfStr)            System.out.println(a);    }}
Geeks
for
Geeks
 Example 5: 
Java
// 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);    }}
Geek
In the above example that trailing empty strings are not included in the resulting array arrOfStr.  Example 6:  
Java
// Java program to demonstrate working of split()  public class GFG {      // Main driver method    public static void main(String args[])    {        String str = "GeeksforforGeeksfor   ";        String[] arrOfStr = str.split("for");          for (String a : arrOfStr)            System.out.println(a);    }}
Geeks

Geeks
   
In the above example, the trailing spaces (hence not empty string) become a string in the resulting array arrOfStr. Example 7:  
Java
// 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.
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