new file mode 100644
--- /dev/null
+++ b/scripts/strings/split.m
@@ -0,0 +1,76 @@
+# Copyright (C) 1996 John W. Eaton
+# 
+# This file is part of Octave.
+# 
+# Octave is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it
+# under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by the
+# Free Software Foundation; either version 2, or (at your option) any
+# later version.
+# 
+# Octave is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but WITHOUT
+# ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or
+# FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the GNU General Public License
+# for more details.
+# 
+# You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
+# along with Octave; see the file COPYING.  If not, write to the Free
+# Software Foundation, 59 Temple Place - Suite 330, Boston, MA  02111-1307, USA.
+
+function m = split (s, t)
+  
+# usage:  m = split (s, t)
+#
+# Divides the string S into pieces separated by T, and stores the
+# pieces as the rows of M (padded with blanks to form a valid
+# matrix).
+  
+# Original version by Kurt Hornik <Kurt.Hornik@ci.tuwien.ac.at>.
+
+  if (nargin != 2)
+    usage ("split (s, t)");
+  endif
+  
+  if (isstr (s) && isstr (t))
+  
+  l_s = length (s);
+  l_t = length (t);
+  
+  if (l_s < l_t)
+    error ("split: s must not be shorter than t");
+  endif
+  
+  if (l_t == 0)
+    ind = 1 : (l_s + 1);
+  else
+    ind = findstr (s, t, 0);
+    if (length (ind) == 0)
+      m = s;
+      return;
+    endif
+    ind = [1 - l_t, ind, l_s + 1];
+  endif
+
+  cmd = "";
+
+  limit = length (ind) - 1;
+
+  for k = 1 : limit
+
+    range = (ind (k) + l_t) : ind (k + 1) - 1;
+
+    if (k != limit)
+      cmd = sprintf ("%s\"%s\", ", cmd, s (range));
+    else
+      cmd = sprintf ("%s\"%s\"", cmd, s (range));
+    endif
+
+  endfor
+
+  m = eval (sprintf ("str2mat (%s);", cmd));
+  
+
+  else
+    error ("split:  both s and t must be strings");
+  endif
+
+endfunction