Benchmark:
timing 10 iterations of
 , regexem, scanem, splitem
...

   regexem:  2 wallclock secs ( 1.86 usr +  0.00 sys =  1.86 CPU) @  5.37/s (n=10),

    scanem:  1 wallclock secs ( 0.80 usr +  0.00 sys =  0.80 CPU) @ 12.48/s (n=10),

   splitem:  1 wallclock secs ( 1.20 usr +  0.00 sys =  1.20 CPU) @  8.32/s (n=10),

          Rate regexem splitem  scanem
regexem 5.37/s      --    -35%    -57%
splitem 8.32/s     55%      --    -33%
scanem  12.5/s    133%     50%      --
2000, 2000, 2000

c:\test>