#include <stdio.h>
#include <stdlib.h>

/* returns how many words there are in the sentence */
int wordcount( char * str )
{
	int s = 0;
	char * p = str;

	while(*p != '\0')
	{
		if(*p == ' ')
			s++;
		p++;
	}
	return ++s;
}

/* returns the current word len */
int wordlen( char str[] )
{
	static int s = 0;
	int len = 0;

	if(str == NULL)
	{
		s = 0;
		return 0;
	}

	while(str[s] != '\0')
	{
		if(str[s] == ' ')
		{
			s++;
			return ++len;
		}
		s++;
		len++;
	}
	return ++len;
}

// gives location of the letters, skips whitespace
int goLetter( char str[] )
{
	static int i = 0;

	while(str[i] != '\0')
	{
		if(str[i] == ' ')
		{
			i++;
			return -1;
		}
		return(i++);
	}
	return -1;
}


/* split words and put them in an array, and return that */
char** split ( char* str )
{
	char **p;
	int i, j , x = 0;
	int len = wordcount(str);
	int curword = 0;


	/* allocate space for multi-dimensional array */
	p = malloc(len  * sizeof *p);

	/* allocation gone wrong */
	if(p == NULL)
		exit(1);

	/* allocate space for each item */
	for(i = 0; i < len; i++)
		p[i] = malloc(wordlen(str) * sizeof *p[i]);

	/* I'm a cheater :D, restart */
	wordlen(NULL);

	/* initialize */
	for (i = 0; i < len; i++)
	{
		curword = wordlen(str);
		for (j = 0; j < curword; j++)
		{
			if((x = goLetter(str)) != -1)
				*( *( p + i ) + j ) = str[x];
			else
				*( *( p + i ) + j ) = '\0';
		}
	}

	return p;
}

/* entry */
int main( void )
{
	char** array = split("abc 123 asdf foobar");
	printf("Array[0] contains %s\n", array[0]);
	printf("Array[1] contains %s\n", array[1]);
	printf("Array[2] contains %s\n", array[2]);
	printf("Array[3] contains %s\n", array[3]);
	free(array);
	return 0;
}

BUGS
Never use these functions. If you do, note that:

    These functions modify their first argument.

    These functions cannot be used on constant strings.

    The identity of the delimiting character is lost.

    The strtok() function uses a static buffer while parsing, so it's not thread safe. Use strtok_r() if this matters to you.