www.LinuxHowtos.org

STRSEP

Section: Linux Programmer's Manual (3)
Updated: 2016-03-15
Index Return to Main Contents

NAME

strsep - extract token from string

SYNOPSIS

#include <string.h>

char *strsep(char **stringp, const char *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 (aq\0aq), 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

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.

COLOPHON

This page is part of release 4.13 of the Linux man-pages project. A description of the project, information about reporting bugs, and the latest version of this page, can be found at https://www.kernel.org/doc/man-pages/.