How do I filter a string including empty entries?

In 3ds Max 8 and higher, a keyword parameter splitEmptyTokens: can be passed to the filterString function to perform this kind of filtering.

A user asked:

The filterString function does not return empty entries. For example, if I am filtering by tabs a string containing two tabs in a row, no empty entry will be returned.

For example,

filterString "One\\t\\tThree Four,,Five ""\\t, " #("One", "Three", "Four", "Five")

Answer:

The following scripted function behaves as requested.

SCRIPTED FUNCTION:

   fn filterString2 theString theDelimiters =
   (
    theTokens = #() --array of tokens to return
    ready = false
    while not ready do --repeat until no more delimiters can be found
    (
     ready = true --raise a flag that we are done
     thePosArray = #() --init. an array to hold possible split positions
     for i = 1 to theDelimiters.count do --go through all delimiters
     (
      checkPos = findString theString theDelimiters[i] --check if the delimiter is in the string
      if checkPos != undefined do append thePosArray checkPos --if it is, add to the split positions array
     ) --end i loop 
     if thePosArray.count > 0 then --if the array has any splitpositions,
     (
      sort thePosArray --sort the array in ascending order
      checkPos = thePosArray[1] --grab the first position
      aToken = substring theString 1 (checkPos-1) --take the token from start to the split pos. - 1
      append theTokens aToken --add the token to the array of tokens
      theString = substring theString (checkPos+1) theString.count --remove the token and the delimiter from the string
      ready = false --lower the flag because we are not ready yet
     ) --end if
    ) --end while loop
    append theTokens theString --add what is left of the string to the array
    theTokens --return the array of tokens
   )

   filterString2 "One\t\tThree,Four,,Five " "\t,"
   #("One", "", "Three", "Four", "", "Five ")

   filterString2 "One\t\tThree Four,,Five " "\t, "
   #("One", "", "Three", "Four", "", "Five", "")