Probably unpack. Only a benchmark will tell for sure, though. Even so, unless you have to do this so many times that it actually matters, you shouldn't care. Readability and maintainability comes first; programmer time is much more expensive than computer time.
In your case I'd pick the unpack solution simply because it's the most clearly self documenting. The split solution does not convey all the assumptions about your input, even though it works.
Makeshifts last the longest.
In reply to Re^3: Abritrary multiple spaces as delimiter
by Aristotle
in thread Abritrary multiple spaces as delimiter
by Weisshaupt
| For: | Use: | ||
| & | & | ||
| < | < | ||
| > | > | ||
| [ | [ | ||
| ] | ] |