The result is an array of strings, and if you want to use the
individual elements you need to use square-bracket indexing,
with [0]
representing the first object
split("211:54:01 +29:33:41")
gives a 2-element array,
first element is "211:54:01"
and
second element is "+29:33:41"
.split(" cat dog cow ")[1] = "dog"