nsstring - Split string in objective c with number of splits as parameter -

how split below string

  "string1:string2:string3:string4:so on.."     [0] = "string1"     [1] = "string2"     [2] = "string3:string4:so on.." in nsstring ? 

is there way can specify number of splits stop splitting ? or how can achieve scenario ?

try following code:

- (nsarray *)splitstring:(nsstring *)string withseparator:(nsstring *)separator andmaxsize:(nsuinteger)size {     nsmutablearray *result = [[nsmutablearray alloc]initwithcapacity:size];     nsarray *components = [string componentsseparatedbystring:separator];      if (components.count < size) {         return components;     }      int i=0;     while (i<size-1) {         [result addobject:components[i]];         i++;     }      nsmutablestring *lastitem = [[nsmutablestring alloc] init];     while (i<components.count) {         [lastitem appendstring:components[i]];         [lastitem appendstring:separator];         i++;     }     // remove last separator     [result addobject:[lastitem substringtoindex:lastitem.length-1]];       return result; }