perl -le '$_="2|3|||||"; @a = split /\|/; print scalar @a
2

##</code><code>##

     split   Splits a string into a list of strings and returns
             that list.  By default, empty leading fields are
             preserved, and empty trailing ones are deleted.

##</code><code>##

perl -le '$_="2|3|||||"; @a = split /\|/, $_, 7; print scalar @a'
7