Byte Array Sentinel Splitter
Split at a literal single-byte sentinel, preserving leading, repeated and trailing empty records; no escaping.
Description
Split at a literal single-byte sentinel, preserving leading, repeated and trailing empty records; no escaping.
Splitting a raw sentinel-delimited byte stream can preserve empty records between adjacent or trailing separators.
When to use this tool
Split at a literal single-byte sentinel, preserving leading, repeated and trailing empty records; no escaping.
- Prepare the supplied bytes, sentinel fields for this operation.
- Compare the complete example with the representation used by your own input before carrying the result into another step.
How to use the tool and how it works
- Enter bytes, sentinel. Use the exact text syntax, units and index conventions explained below.
- Run the tool. If input validation fails, correct the supplied fields before interpreting any result.
- Read result.records. Interpret false, null and empty lists using the distinctions below; they can be valid outputs.
Validate bytes and sentinel from 0 to 255. Begin one empty record, append ordinary bytes and start another record on each sentinel.1
| Input field | Meaning and representation | Accepted input |
|---|---|---|
| bytes | bytes. | List of integers from 0 to 255; at most 128 bytes |
| sentinel | sentinel. | Integer from 0 to 255 inclusive |
| Output field | Interpretation |
|---|---|
| result | Object containing the named outputs below. |
| result.records | The records list in the ordering and representation described above. |
{
"input": {
"bytes": [
1,
0,
0,
2,
0
],
"sentinel": 0
},
"output": {
"result": {
"records": [
[
1
],
[],
[
2
],
[]
]
}
}
}Limitations and assumptions
- No escape processing occurs. Empty input returns one empty record, and a trailing sentinel creates a final empty record.
- Every declared top-level field is required and unexpected fields are rejected. Numeric inputs must be finite; ordinary text fields are bounded to 8,192 UTF-16 code units, with tighter operation-specific limits where stated.
- Lists are limited to 128 entries. JSON text must meet bounded size and depth checks, and numeric outputs beyond the safe finite magnitude are rejected. Exact large integers use decimal strings.
- Indexes are zero-based and spans have an exclusive end unless explicitly stated otherwise. A valid false, null or empty-list result is distinct from malformed input.
Alternative or Complementary methods
Retain the field-width, bit-index and byte-order conventions when combining operations. Slicing, escaping, permutation and alignment are separate transforms; none supplies a complete framing or cryptographic protocol.
References
Similar or alternative tools
- Byte Array Fixed Record Splitter
Split dense byte arrays into complete fixed-width records, preserving an incomplete tail instead of discarding it.
- Byte Array Escaping Inverse
Explicit byte-stuffing inverse with escape followed by reserved byte XOR 0x20; escape and sentinel must differ.