--- a/scripts/strings/module.mk
+++ b/scripts/strings/module.mk
@@ -4,6 +4,7 @@
   strings/base2dec.m \
   strings/bin2dec.m \
   strings/blanks.m \
+  strings/cstrcat.m \
   strings/deblank.m \
   strings/dec2base.m \
   strings/dec2bin.m \
@@ -14,16 +15,16 @@
   strings/isletter.m \
   strings/isstrprop.m \
   strings/mat2str.m \
+  strings/ostrsplit.m \
   strings/regexptranslate.m \
   strings/rindex.m \
-  strings/strsplit.m \
   strings/str2num.m \
   strings/strcat.m \
-  strings/cstrcat.m \
   strings/strchr.m \
   strings/strjoin.m \
   strings/strjust.m \
   strings/strmatch.m \
+  strings/strsplit.m \
   strings/strtok.m \
   strings/strtrim.m \
   strings/strtrunc.m \

new file mode 100644
--- /dev/null
+++ b/scripts/strings/ostrsplit.m
@@ -0,0 +1,118 @@
+## Copyright (C) 2009-2012 Jaroslav Hajek
+##
+## 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 3 of the License, 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, see
+## <http://www.gnu.org/licenses/>.
+
+## -*- texinfo -*-
+## @deftypefn  {Function File} {[@var{cstr}] =} ostrsplit (@var{s}, @var{sep})
+## @deftypefnx {Function File} {[@var{cstr}] =} ostrsplit (@var{s}, @var{sep}, @var{strip_empty})
+## Split the string @var{s} using one or more separators @var{sep} and return
+## a cell array of strings.  Consecutive separators and separators at
+## boundaries result in empty strings, unless @var{strip_empty} is true.
+## The default value of @var{strip_empty} is false.
+##
+## 2-D character arrays are split at separators and at the original column
+## boundaries.
+##
+## Example:
+##
+## @example
+## @group
+## ostrsplit ("a,b,c", ",")
+##       @result{}
+##           @{
+##             [1,1] = a
+##             [1,2] = b
+##             [1,3] = c
+##           @}
+##
+## ostrsplit (["a,b" ; "cde"], ",")
+##       @result{}
+##           @{
+##             [1,1] = a
+##             [1,2] = b
+##             [1,3] = cde
+##           @}
+## @end group
+## @end example
+## @seealso{strsplit, strtok}
+## @end deftypefn
+
+function cstr = ostrsplit (s, sep, strip_empty = false)
+
+  if (nargin < 2 || nargin > 3)
+    print_usage ();
+  elseif (! ischar (s) || ! ischar (sep))
+    error ("ostrsplit: S and SEP must be string values");
+  elseif (! isscalar (strip_empty))
+    error ("ostrsplit: STRIP_EMPTY must be a scalar value");
+  endif
+
+  if (isempty (s))
+    cstr = cell (size (s));
+  else
+    if (rows (s) > 1)
+      ## For 2-D arrays, add separator character at line boundaries
+      ## and transform to single string
+      s(:, end+1) = sep(1);
+      s = reshape (s.', 1, numel (s));
+      s(end) = []; 
+    endif
+
+    ## Split s according to delimiter
+    if (isscalar (sep))
+      ## Single separator
+      idx = find (s == sep);
+    else
+      ## Multiple separators
+      idx = strchr (s, sep);
+    endif
+
+    ## Get substring lengths.
+    if (isempty (idx))
+      strlens = length (s);
+    else
+      strlens = [idx(1)-1, diff(idx)-1, numel(s)-idx(end)];
+    endif
+    ## Remove separators.
+    s(idx) = [];
+    if (strip_empty)
+      ## Omit zero lengths.
+      strlens = strlens(strlens != 0);
+    endif
+
+    ## Convert!
+    cstr = mat2cell (s, 1, strlens);
+  endif
+
+endfunction
+
+
+%!assert (ostrsplit ("road to hell", " "), {"road", "to", "hell"})
+%!assert (ostrsplit ("road to^hell", " ^"), {"road", "to", "hell"})
+%!assert (ostrsplit ("road   to--hell", " -", true), {"road", "to", "hell"})
+%!assert (ostrsplit (["a,bc";",de"], ","), {"a", "bc", char(ones(1,0)), "de "})
+%!assert (ostrsplit (["a,bc";",de"], ",", true), {"a", "bc", "de "})
+%!assert (ostrsplit (["a,bc";",de"], ", ", true), {"a", "bc", "de"})
+
+%% Test input validation
+%!error ostrsplit ()
+%!error ostrsplit ("abc")
+%!error ostrsplit ("abc", "b", true, 4)
+%!error <S and SEP must be string values> ostrsplit (123, "b")
+%!error <S and SEP must be string values> ostrsplit ("abc", 1)
+%!error <STRIP_EMPTY must be a scalar value> ostrsplit ("abc", "def", ones (3,3))
+