diff --git a/src/common/splitString.cpp b/src/common/splitString.cpp
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..0cb9bfc92
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/common/splitString.cpp
@@ -0,0 +1,31 @@
+#include "splitString.h"
+
+std::vector<std::string> split(const std::string & str,
+                                      const std::string & delims=" *-")
+{
+  string::size_type lastPos = str.find_first_not_of(delims, 0);
+  string::size_type pos = str.find_first_of(delims, lastPos);
+  vector<string> tokens;
+ 
+  while (string::npos != pos || string::npos != lastPos)
+    {
+      tokens.push_back(str.substr(lastPos, pos - lastPos));
+      lastPos = str.find_first_not_of(delims, pos);
+      pos     = str.find_first_of(delims, lastPos);
+    }
+ 
+  return tokens;
+}
+
+std::vector<std::string> split(const char* lhs, const char* rhs){
+  const std::string m1 (lhs), m2 (rhs);
+  return split(m1, m2);
+}
+
+std::vector<std::string> split(const char* lhs, const std::string& rhs){
+  return split(lhs, rhs.c_str());
+}
+
+std::vector<std::string> split(const std::string& lhs, const char* rhs){
+  return split(lhs.c_str(), rhs);
+}
diff --git a/src/common/splitString.h b/src/common/splitString.h
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..df325319b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/common/splitString.h
@@ -0,0 +1,10 @@
+#include <iostream>
+#include <vector>
+#include <string>
+
+using namespace std;
+
+std::vector<std::string> split(const std::string&, const std::string&);
+std::vector<std::string> split(const char*, const char*);
+std::vector<std::string> split(const std::string&, const char*);
+std::vector<std::string> split(const char*, std::string&);