# LSplit (String)

| **Name**    | ***LSplit***                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                              |
| ----------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| Syntax      | LSplit (String str, Integer maxTokens, String delimiter, Integer returnToken)                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                             |
| Purpose     | To split a string into chunks, specified by an integer value of a ‘maxTokens’ variable, and delimited by a ‘delimiter’ string value. Returns specified token at index ‘returnToken’, counting from the left. (**Note:** The integer value, 0, will return the first split chunk)                                                                                                                                          |
| Description | Splits a string into a maximum ‘maxTokens’ tokens delimited by ‘delimiter’. Returns token at index ‘returnToken’ counting from the left.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                  |
| Return Type | String                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                    |
| Parameters  | <p>str \[System.String] – The string to be broken into tokens</p><p>maxTokens \[System.Int32] – The maximum number of tokens to split the string into. -1 is taken to unlimited. The number should be greater than the index of the token to be returned</p><p>delimiter \[System.String]</p><p>returnToken \[System.Int32] – The index (Counting from left to right) of the token generating by splitting the string</p> |

![](https://github.com/astera-software/Astera_Data_Stack_v9/blob/main/.gitbook/assets/0%20\(223\).png)

**Example**

We have a sample *Customers\_Marketing* dataset with the field *CompanyName.* In this example, we want to return the first part of each record in the *CompanyName* field.

![](https://github.com/astera-software/Astera_Data_Stack_v9/blob/main/.gitbook/assets/1%20\(223\).png)

We will use the *LSplit* function and a *Variables* object to do this. We will map the *CompanyName* field from our source object to the *str* input node of the function transformation object. For the other required inputs of the function transformation object, we will use a *Variables* object.

Where,

*maxTokens =* 2

{% hint style="info" %}
**Note:** As we only want to return the first part of the string, splitting the string into two chunks is sufficient for our case
{% endhint %}

*delimiter =*

{% hint style="info" %}
**Note:** Since the string values in our case are separated using a space, our delimiter value will also be a space. This value can be replaced with other delimiters, for example, “,”, depending on the data format
{% endhint %}

*returnToken* = 0

{% hint style="info" %}
**Note:** We are using the value 0, as we want to return the first part of the split string
{% endhint %}

![](https://github.com/astera-software/Astera_Data_Stack_v9/blob/main/.gitbook/assets/2%20\(221\).png)

We will write the output to a *Delimited Destination File* object.

![](https://github.com/astera-software/Astera_Data_Stack_v9/blob/main/.gitbook/assets/3%20\(43\).png)

Now, to view the output, we will right-click on the destination object’s header and select *Preview Output.* You can see that Astera Data Stack has split the string values in the *CompanyName* field, and returned only the first part of the split string.

![](https://github.com/astera-software/Astera_Data_Stack_v9/blob/main/.gitbook/assets/4%20\(8\).png)

Similarly, if we change the *returnToken* value to “1”, the second chunk from the two will be returned, as shown below:

![](https://github.com/astera-software/Astera_Data_Stack_v9/blob/main/.gitbook/assets/5%20\(2\)%20\(1\)%20\(1\).png)