Tip of the day: Splitting a string when encountering whitespace

In .NET the string class has a Split method that splits the string at the separator character(s) that you specify. However, if you want to split the string at any instance of whitespace you don’t have to create a Split call that enumerates all those different types of whitespace… and there are actually quite a lot! Instead you can just call Split without any parameters and it will split at whitespace regardless of the type.

For example, the following program, in which I hope I’ve managed to use all the different types of whitespace in Unicode, will produce the output below:

static void Main(string[] args)
{
  string source =
    "An\u0020inspired\rcalligraphe\r\ncan\u1680create\u180epages\u2000of"+
    "\u2001beauty\tusing\u2002stick\u2003ink,\u2004quill,\u2005brush,"+
    "\u2006pick-axe,\u2007buzz\u2008saw,\u2009or\u200aeven\u202fstrawberry"+
    "\u205fjam."+
    Environment.NewLine+
    "The\u3000quick\u2028brown\u2029fox\u0009jumps\u000aover\u000bthe\u000c"+
    "lazy\u000ddog."+
    Environment.NewLine+
    "Whitespace\u0085For\u00a0the win!";

  string[] words = source.Split();

  foreach(string word in words)
  {
    Console.WriteLine(word);
  }
}

Produces this output:

An
inspired
calligrapher
can
create
pages
of
beauty
using
stick
ink,
quill,
brush,
pick-axe,
buzz
saw,
or
even
strawberry
jam.

The
quick
brown
fox
jumps
over
the
lazy
dog.

Whitespace
For
the
win!