Question

Do I really need space to get three elements after split? Or could someone explain why is that so? (note: code in ruby, not sure how it is in different languages)

test1="2011112512215| | "
test2="2011112512215||"

puts test1.split("|").length    # =3
puts test2.split("|").length    # =1

Answer 1

No, String#split takes a second parameter where you can specify a limit for the number of splits that will occure.

Passing a negative value will make the function not remove trailing elements of length 0.

puts "2011112512215||".split ("|", -1)        # = ["2011112512215","",""]
puts "2011112512215||".split ("|", -1).length # = 3