strtokrNULLchar

strtokrNULLchar is a speculative or fictional name used in discussions of string tokenization to describe a reentrant tokenizer that treats the null character ('\0') as a token delimiter. It is positioned as a variant of the conventional strtok_r function, with an emphasis on safely parsing input in multi-threaded contexts.

In design terms, strtokrNULLchar would aim to provide thread-safe tokenization by maintaining internal state between calls, similar to strtok_r. The key distinguishing feature is the use of the null byte as the delimiter, which raises questions about handling data that may contain embedded nulls. Because C strings use '\0' to terminate, a practical implementation would typically require a length-aware interface or a separate buffer to hold binary data; otherwise, embedded nulls would prematurely end tokenization. A common expectation in proposed designs is that the function would replace delimiters with '\0' to produce null-terminated tokens, while updating a saved state pointer for subsequent calls.

Usage patterns discussed in relation to strtokrNULLchar usually involve passing an input buffer along with a context pointer that persists across invocations. Each call returns a pointer to the next token or NULL when the data is exhausted. The API is not part of any standard library, and no widely adopted implementation exists, making portability a concern. Where implemented, it would appeal to developers parsing byte streams, protocol data, or binary formats that rely on explicit boundary markers rather than external terminators.

See also: strtok, strtok_r, strsep, and related tokenization approaches.