NAME

       strsep - extract token from string

LIBRARY

       Standard C library (libc, -lc)

SYNOPSIS

       #include <string.h>

       char *strsep(char **restrict stringp, const char *restrict delim);

   Feature Test Macro Requirements for glibc (see feature_test_macros(7)):

       strsep():
           Since glibc 2.19:
               _DEFAULT_SOURCE
           glibc 2.19 and earlier:
               _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 that is delimited by one of the bytes in the  string  delim.
       This token is terminated by overwriting the delimiter with a null byte ('\0'), 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.

ATTRIBUTES

       For an explanation of the terms used in this section, see attributes(7).

       ┌──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┬───────────────┬─────────┐
       │Interface                                                                     │ Attribute     │ Value   │
       ├──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┼───────────────┼─────────┤
       │strsep()                                                                      │ Thread safety │ MT-Safe │
       └──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┴───────────────┴─────────┘

STANDARDS

       None.

HISTORY

       4.4BSD.

       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.

EXAMPLES

       The program below is a port of the one found in  strtok(3),  which,  however,  doesn't  discard  multiple
       delimiters or empty tokens:

           $ ./a.out 'a/bbb///cc;xxx:yyy:' ':;' '/'
           1: a/bbb///cc
                    --> a
                    --> bbb
                    -->
                    -->
                    --> cc
           2: xxx
                    --> xxx
           3: yyy
                    --> yyy
           4:
                    -->

   Program source

       #include <stdio.h>
       #include <stdlib.h>
       #include <string.h>

       int
       main(int argc, char *argv[])
       {
           char *token, *subtoken;

           if (argc != 4) {
               fprintf(stderr, "Usage: %s string delim subdelim\n", argv[0]);
               exit(EXIT_FAILURE);
           }

           for (unsigned int j = 1; (token = strsep(&argv[1], argv[2])); j++) {
               printf("%u: %s\n", j, token);

               while ((subtoken = strsep(&token, argv[3])))
                   printf("\t --> %s\n", subtoken);
           }

           exit(EXIT_SUCCESS);
       }

SEE ALSO

       memchr(3), strchr(3), string(3), strpbrk(3), strspn(3), strstr(3), strtok(3)