although your example result doesn't demonstrate this behavior, i think this is what you want: 
@array = split(/\s*sp\s*/, $string);

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Update: well now that i think about it, that probably isn't want you want at all (it will match sp's that occur inside words). sp probably isn't be best delimiter in the world...

In reply to Re: Regular expressions by robobunny
in thread Capturing text between literal string delimiters (was: Regular expressions) by Anonymous Monk

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