In java you might face a situation where you need to split String, based on some criteria. To fulfill this requirement Java has already provided two in-built methods to achieve this.

1. Method 1: split(String regex, int limit)
2. Method 2: split(String regex) (Internally calls above method with the limit as 0)
   1. split(String regex, 0)

Parameter

regex (Regular Expression): An expression(pattern) around which you would like to split given string.

limit: It will decide how many times a given pattern will be applied while splitting the string.

1. n>0: pattern will be applied at most n-1 times.
2. n=<0: Pattern will be applied as many times as possible

Return Value

String[]: Array of Strings resulted after splitting string with above regular expression. The length of this array is depended on the limit parameter.

Example

package com.jbt;

/*
 * @Author  : Javabeginnerstutorial.com
 * @Purpose : How to split a string in java
 */
public class java_string_split {
	public static void main(String[] args) {
		/*
		 * Here Space will be used as pattern to
		 * split the string.
		 */
		final String REGULAR_EXPRESSION_EMPTY_STRING = " ";

		/*
		 * Here "H\w" regular expression will be
		 * used as pattern to split the string.
		 * 
		 * \w : It matches word
		 * characters(alphanumeric characters plus
		 * underscore).
		 * 
		 * Given regular expression will match all
		 * word containing H and single character
		 * after it.
		 */
		final String REGULAR_EXPRESSION_SINGLE_WORD_CHARACTER = "H\\w";

		String jbtTest = "Hi Hello How Are You!";

		String[] strArr = jbtTest.split(REGULAR_EXPRESSION_EMPTY_STRING);
		String[] strArr1 = jbtTest.split(REGULAR_EXPRESSION_SINGLE_WORD_CHARACTER);

		
		 for (String splitString : strArr){
			 System.out.println(splitString); 
		 }
		 System.out.println("###########################################");
		for (String splitString : strArr1) {
			System.out.println(splitString);
		}
	}
}

Output

Hi
Hello
How
Are
You!
###########################################

 
llo 
w Are You!

Limit Option Example

package com.jbt;

/*
 * @Author  : Javabeginnerstutorial.com
 * @Purpose : How to split a string in java
 */
public class java_string_split {
	public static void main(String[] args) {
		/*
		 * Here Space will be used as pattern to
		 * split the string.
		 */
		final String REGULAR_EXPRESSION_EMPTY_STRING = " ";

		String jbtTest = "Hi Hello How Are You!";

		//It will apply SPACE pattern 0(n-1) times.
 		String[] strArr = jbtTest.split(REGULAR_EXPRESSION_EMPTY_STRING, 1);
 		
		//It will apply SPACE pattern 1(n-1) times. 		
		String[] strArr1 = jbtTest.split(REGULAR_EXPRESSION_EMPTY_STRING, 2);
		
		//It will apply SPACE pattern 2(n-1) times.
		String[] strArr2 = jbtTest.split(REGULAR_EXPRESSION_EMPTY_STRING, 3);

		for (String splitString : strArr) {
			System.out.println(splitString);
		}
		System.out.println("###########################################");
		for (String splitString : strArr1) {
			System.out.println(splitString);
		}
		System.out.println("###########################################");
		for (String splitString : strArr2) {
			System.out.println(splitString);
		}
	}
}

Output

Hi Hello How Are You!
###########################################
Hi
Hello How Are You!
###########################################
Hi
Hello
How Are You!