As of today, strsep() function lives in Nevada's libc (tracked by CR 4383867 and PSARC 2008/305). This constitutes another step in the quest for more feature-full (in terms of compatibility) libc in OpenSolaris. In binary form, the changes will be available in build 99. The documentation will be part of the string(3C) man page.

Here's a small example of how to use it:

#include <stdio.h>
#include <string.h>
#include <err.h>

int parse(const char *str) {
        char *p = NULL;
        char *inputstring, *origstr;
        int ret = 1;
        
        if (str == NULL)
                errx(1, "NULL string");

        /*
         * We have to remember original pointer because strsep()
         * will change 'inputstr' pointer.
         */
        if ((origstr = inputstring = strdup(str)) == NULL)
                errx(1, "strdup() failed");

        printf("=== parsing '%s'\n", inputstring);
        for ((p = strsep(&inputstring, ",")); p != NULL;
           (p = strsep(&inputstring, ","))) {
                if (p != NULL && *p != '\0')
                        printf("%s\n", p);
                else if (p != NULL) {
                        warnx("syntax error");
                        ret = 0;
                        goto bad;
                }
        }
bad:
        printf("=== finished parsing\n");
        free(origstr);
        return (ret);
}

int main(int argc, char *argv[]) {
        if (argc != 2)
                errx(1, "usage: prog ");

        if (!parse(argv[1]))
                exit(1);

        return (0);
}

This example was actually used as a unit test (use e.g. "1,22,33,44" and "1,22,,44,33" as input string) and it also nicely illustrates important properties of strsep() behavior:

• While searching for tokens, strsep() modifies the original string. This is shared property with strtok().
• Unlike strtok(), strsep() is able to detect empty fields.

There is a function in Solaris' libc which can do token splitting and does not modify the original string - strcspn(). The other notable property of strsep() is that (unlike strtok()) it does not conform to ANSI-C. Time to draw a table:

 function(s)   ISO C90    modifies     detects
                           input     empty fields
-------------+----------+----------+--------------+
 strsep()        No          Yes         Yes
 strtok()        Yes         Yes         No
 strcspn()       Yes         No        Sort of

None of the above functions is bullet-proof. The bottom line is the user should decide which is the most suitable for given task and use it with its properties in mind.