You can use the strtok() function to split a string (and specify the delimiter to use). Note that strtok() will modify the string passed into it. If the original string is required elsewhere make a copy of it and pass the copy to strtok().
EDIT:
Example (note it does not handle consecutive delimiters, "JAN,,,FEB,MAR" for example):
#include <stdio.h>
#include <stdlib.h>
#include <string.h>
#include <assert.h>
char** str_split(char* a_str, const char a_delim)
{
char** result = 0;
size_t count = 0;
char* tmp = a_str;
char* last_comma = 0;
char delim[2];
delim[0] = a_delim;
delim[1] = 0;
/* Count how many elements will be extracted. */
while (*tmp)
{
if (a_delim == *tmp)
{
count++;
last_comma = tmp;
}
tmp++;
}
/* Add space for trailing token. */
count += last_comma < (a_str + strlen(a_str) - 1);
/* Add space for terminating null string so caller
knows where the list of returned strings ends. */
count++;
result = malloc(sizeof(char*) * count);
if (result)
{
size_t idx = 0;
char* token = strtok(a_str, delim);
while (token)
{
assert(idx < count);
*(result + idx++) = strdup(token);
token = strtok(0, delim);
}
assert(idx == count - 1);
*(result + idx) = 0;
}
return result;
}
int main()
{
char months[] = "JAN,FEB,MAR,APR,MAY,JUN,JUL,AUG,SEP,OCT,NOV,DEC";
char** tokens;
printf("months=[%s]\n\n", months);
tokens = str_split(months, ',');
if (tokens)
{
int i;
for (i = 0; *(tokens + i); i++)
{
printf("month=[%s]\n", *(tokens + i));
free(*(tokens + i));
}
printf("\n");
free(tokens);
}
return 0;
}
Output:
$ ./main.exe
months=[JAN,FEB,MAR,APR,MAY,JUN,JUL,AUG,SEP,OCT,NOV,DEC]
month=[JAN]
month=[FEB]
month=[MAR]
month=[APR]
month=[MAY]
month=[JUN]
month=[JUL]
month=[AUG]
month=[SEP]
month=[OCT]
month=[NOV]
month=[DEC]