Split method of String type gains overloads:
(from 2 to 10 comes mainly from adding a boolean parameter determining if empty entries will be added to the array or not)
 
dim x as string = ",,,1,2,3,4,,,,5,6,7,,,"
dim y as string() = x.split(",",4,True)
Output: 
y(0) = 1
y(1) = 2
y(2) = 3
y(3) = 4