https://community.appian.com/support/w/kb/574/kb-1341-using-a-nested-split-throws-a-nullpointerexceptionen-USTelligent Community 12https://community.appian.com/support/w/kb/574/kb-1341-using-a-nested-split-throws-a-nullpointerexceptionThu, 11 May 2017 17:33:08 GMTd3a83456-d57b-489c-a84c-4e8267bb592a:475c4347-9155-49f8-8368-ea2674cebb82Nick Vigilantehttps://community.appian.com/support/w/kb/574/kb-1341-using-a-nested-split-throws-a-nullpointerexception#commentsCurrent Revision posted to Appian Knowledge Base by Nick Vigilante on 5/11/2017 5:33:08 PM<br /> <h2>Symptoms</h2> <p>When using split() with a delimiter in the first position, the expression throws a Null Pointer Exception.&nbsp;</p> <p>For example, the following expression:</p> <pre class="code-java">split(split(<span class="code-quote">&quot;accbcc&quot;</span>, <span class="code-quote">&quot;a&quot;</span>), <span class="code-quote">&quot;b&quot;</span>)</pre> <p>is not valid because the inner &#39;split()&#39; returns a list of two texts, the first empty (null) and the second with characters</p> <p>However, the following will not throw a null pointer exception:</p> <pre class="code-java">split({<span class="code-keyword">null</span>, <span class="code-quote">&quot;accbcc&quot;</span>}, <span class="code-quote">&quot;b&quot;</span>)</pre> <h2>Cause</h2> <p>This issue has been reported to the Appian product team. The reference number for this issue is <strong>AN-57629</strong>.</p> <h2>Workaround</h2> <p>Avoid using nested splits with a leading delimiter.</p> <h2>Affected Versions</h2> <p>This article applies to all versions of Appian.</p> <p>Last Reviewed: April 2017</p><div style="clear:both;"></div> <div style="font-size: 90%;">Tags: known issues, expression rules, application design, open issues</div>