# Split Fields

You can use the **Split Fields** step to split a field into multiple fields based on a specified delimiter.

### General

| Field              | Description                                                                                                                                                      |
| ------------------ | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| **Step name**      | Specify the unique name of the step on the canvas. You can customize the name or leave it as the default.                                                        |
| **Field to split** | Specify the name of the field you want to split.                                                                                                                 |
| **Delimiter**      | Specify the delimiter character that separates the fields. You can set special characters with the format `$[value]` (for example, `$[01]` or `$[6F,FF,00,1F]`). |
| **Enclosure**      | Enclose a field with a pair of specified strings. Use this option if you want separator characters in the fields.                                                |

### Fields

The fields in this table define the properties for each new field created by the split.

| Field          | Description                                                                                                                                   |
| -------------- | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| **New field**  | Name of the new field created by the split.                                                                                                   |
| **ID**         | Identifier string for the field. If the ID does not match the existing ID in the field, the output value is null.                             |
| **Remove ID?** | Specify whether to remove the ID from the output value.                                                                                       |
| **Type**       | Output data type.                                                                                                                             |
| **Length**     | Field length.                                                                                                                                 |
| **Precision**  | Floating point digits for number fields.                                                                                                      |
| **Format**     | Format mask. See [Common Formats](https://docs.pentaho.com/pdia-data-integration/pdi-transformation-steps-reference-overview/common-formats). |
| **Group**      | Thousands grouping symbol.                                                                                                                    |
| **Decimal**    | Decimal symbol.                                                                                                                               |
| **Currency**   | Currency symbol (for example, `$` or `€`).                                                                                                    |
| **Nullif**     | String to match. If the output value matches this string, the value is set to null.                                                           |
| **Default**    | Default value if the output value is null or empty.                                                                                           |
| **Trim Type**  | Trimming method applied to strings. Trimming works only when no field length is specified.                                                    |

See [Understanding PDI data types and field metadata](https://docs.pentaho.com/pdia-data-integration/understanding-pdi-data-types-and-field-metadata) for guidance on field metadata.

### Example

The following settings split a `SALES_VALUES` field containing `500,300,200,100` into four new fields:

![Split Fields step example data](https://773338310-files.gitbook.io/~/files/v0/b/gitbook-x-prod.appspot.com/o/spaces%2FYwnJ6Fexn4LZwKRHghPK%2Fuploads%2Fgit-blob-5dd8229bac69c5cd4780695f4d4299ff3b422b76%2FPDI_SplitFields_ExampleData.png?alt=media)

The result is four fields:

![Split Fields example results](https://773338310-files.gitbook.io/~/files/v0/b/gitbook-x-prod.appspot.com/o/spaces%2FYwnJ6Fexn4LZwKRHghPK%2Fuploads%2Fgit-blob-272bf9302405ed09271a1c6137835a19466bcaab%2FPDI_SplitFields_ExampleResults.png?alt=media)

### See also

* [Split field to rows](http://wiki.pentaho.com/display/EAI/Split+field+to+rows)

### Metadata injection support

This step supports metadata injection. You can use it with [ETL metadata injection](https://docs.pentaho.com/pdia-data-integration/pdi-transformation-steps-reference-overview/etl-metadata-injection) to pass metadata to your transformation at runtime.