Whitespace test after string.split

[David Pratt]

Hi.  I am splitting a string on a non whitespace character. One or more 
whitespace characters can be returned as items in the list. I do not 
want the items in the list that are only whitespace (can be one or more 
characters of whitespace) and plan to use string.strip on those items 
that are not only whitespace (to remove any whitespace from front or 
back of items).

What kind of efficient test can I use to obtain only list items 
returned from the split that I am interested in, ignoring any list 
items that would only be comprised of one or more characters of 
whitespace (since whitespace can mean one or more spaces, tabs, and 
other characters)

As a second question, I am seeing string split as deprecated in 2.4.2 
manual.  What is planned in future to split (strings or unicode)?

Regards,
David