+/**
+ * Split string and return pointers to its parts.
+ *
+ * \param args The string to be split.
+ * \param argv_ptr Pointer to the list of substrings.
+ * \param delim Delimiter.
+ *
+ * This function modifies \a args by replacing each occurance of \a delim by
+ * zero. A \p NULL-terminated array of pointers to char* is allocated dynamically
+ * and these pointers are initialized to point to the broken-up substrings
+ * within \a args. A pointer to this array is returned via \a argv_ptr.
+ *
+ * \return The number of substrings found in \a args.
+ */
+__must_check unsigned split_args(char *args, char *** const argv_ptr, const char *delim)
+{
+ char *p = args;
+ char **argv;
+ size_t n = 0, i, j;
+
+ p = args + strspn(args, delim);
+ for (;;) {
+ i = strcspn(p, delim);
+ if (!i)
+ break;
+ p += i;
+ n++;
+ p += strspn(p, delim);
+ }
+ *argv_ptr = dss_malloc((n + 1) * sizeof(char *));
+ argv = *argv_ptr;
+ i = 0;
+ p = args + strspn(args, delim);
+ while (p) {
+ argv[i] = p;
+ j = strcspn(p, delim);
+ if (!j)
+ break;
+ p += strcspn(p, delim);
+ if (*p) {
+ *p = '\0';
+ p++;
+ p += strspn(p, delim);
+ }
+ i++;
+ }
+ argv[n] = NULL;
+ return n;
+}