title: String parsing in Java with delimiter tab "\t" using split
body: <p>I'm processing a string which is tab delimited. I'm accomplishing this using the  <code>split</code> function, and it works in most situations. The problem occurs when a field is missing, so instead of getting null in that field I get the next value. I'm storing the parsed values in a string array.</p>
  
  <pre><code>String[] columnDetail = new String[11];
  columnDetail = column.split("\t");
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>Any help would be appreciated. If possible I'd like to store the parsed strings into a string array so that I can easily access the parsed data.</p>