# How to split all chars from string array

**URL:** <https://discourse.julialang.org/t/how-to-split-all-chars-from-string-array/45965>\
**Category:** General Usage\
**Tags:** strings\
**Created:** [September 2, 2020, 5:59pm UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/how-to-split-all-chars-from-string-array/45965 "2020-09-02T17:59:21Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 6\
**Page:** 1

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![programista](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/julialang/user_avatar/discourse.julialang.org/programista/32/5372_2.png) [@programista](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/programista)\
**Post date:** [September 2, 2020, 5:59pm UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/how-to-split-all-chars-from-string-array/45965/1 "2020-09-02T17:59:21Z")

</div>

```julia
julia> (dane[1,5])
"TEST"

julia> split(dane[1,5],"")
4-element Array{SubString{String},1}:
 "T"
 "E"
 "S"
 "T"
'''
is ok, 
but

'''
julia> split.(string.(dane[:,5],""))
1074955-element Array{Array{SubString{String},1},1}:
 ["TEST"]
 ["VENDI", "SERVIS", "Sp", "z", "oo"]

```

how to take all chars from this array not rows?  
Paul

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![feanor12](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/julialang/user_avatar/discourse.julialang.org/feanor12/32/8212_2.png) [@feanor12](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/feanor12)\
**Post date:** [September 2, 2020, 6:14pm UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/how-to-split-all-chars-from-string-array/45965/2 "2020-09-02T18:14:19Z")

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I am not exactly sure what you want to do or what type `dane` is, but here are a few examples that could help.

```julia
julia> a = ["asdxsad" "axsdaxds"; "fxssd" "dasd"]
2×2 Array{String,2}:
 "asdxsad" "axsdaxds"
 "fxssd" "dasd"

julia> split.(a,"x")
2×2 Array{Array{SubString{String},1},2}:
 ["asd", "sad"] ["a", "sda", "ds"]
 ["f", "ssd"] ["dasd"]

julia> split.(a[:,2],"x")
2-element Array{Array{SubString{String},1},1}:
 ["a", "sda", "ds"]
 ["dasd"]

julia> split.(a[:],"x")
4-element Array{Array{SubString{String},1},1}:
 ["asd", "sad"]
 ["f", "ssd"]
 ["a", "sda", "ds"]
 ["dasd"]

julia> join(a," ")
"asdxsad fxssd axsdaxds dasd"

julia> split(join(a," "),"x")
5-element Array{SubString{String},1}:
 "asd"
 "sad f"
 "ssd a"
 "sda"
 "ds dasd"

```

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Vasily\_Pisarev](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/julialang/user_avatar/discourse.julialang.org/vasily_pisarev/32/7929_2.png) [@Vasily\_Pisarev](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/Vasily_Pisarev)\
**Post date:** [September 2, 2020, 7:15pm UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/how-to-split-all-chars-from-string-array/45965/3 "2020-09-02T19:15:21Z")

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With strings specifically, I’d go with `split(join(array_of_strings), "")` to get characters as strings or `collect(join(array_of_strings))` to get them as `Char`s.

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**Author:** ![stevengj](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/julialang/user_avatar/discourse.julialang.org/stevengj/32/71_2.png) [@stevengj](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/stevengj)\
**Post date:** [September 2, 2020, 7:19pm UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/how-to-split-all-chars-from-string-array/45965/4 "2020-09-02T19:19:07Z")

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Don’t use `split(s, "")` to get “characters” — that returns 1-character strings, but Julia (unlike Python) has an actual character type. Use `collect` to get an array of characters.

(That being said, it’s rare to actually need to explicitly collect an array of characters during string processing — you can just loop over the characters directly. Unlike other dynamic languages, you don’t have to cram everything into “vectorized” operations to get good performance; often non-vectorized code is clearer and faster.)

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**Author:** ![cchderrick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ecd19e/32.png) [@cchderrick](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/cchderrick)\
**Post date:** [September 2, 2020, 8:59pm UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/how-to-split-all-chars-from-string-array/45965/5 "2020-09-02T20:59:04Z")

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I think your parentheses is messed up.

```julia
split.(string.(dane[:,5]),"")

```

Like other mentioned, you might want array of Char

```julia
collect.(dane[:,5])

```

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![logankilpatrick](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/julialang/user_avatar/discourse.julialang.org/logankilpatrick/32/38123_2.png) [@logankilpatrick](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/logankilpatrick)\
**Post date:** [September 15, 2022, 1:29pm UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/how-to-split-all-chars-from-string-array/45965/6 "2022-09-15T13:29:10Z")

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I just wrote up a comprehensive article on splitting strings in Julia: [The only way you should be splitting a String in Julia — Julia Base.split() | by Logan Kilpatrick | Sep, 2022 | Medium](https://logankilpatrick.medium.com/the-only-way-you-should-be-splitting-a-string-in-julia-julia-base-split-374b191a543) if you think I missed anything big, let me know!