#include <stdio.h>

int parse_string(char *string, char ***word, char ***part) {
  char *args, *p = string;
  int i, count = 1;
  
  /* Trim leading white space, and duplicate string */
  if(!p) return 0;
  while(isspace(*string)) string++; 
  args = (char *)strdup(string);
  if(!args) return -1;
  
  /* Count words */
  p = args;
  while(*p && *(p+1)) { if(isspace(*p) && !isspace(*(p+1))) count++; p++; }

  /* Allocate return pointers */
  *part = (char **)calloc(count, sizeof(char*));
  *word = (char **)calloc(count, sizeof(char*));
  if(!part || !word) return -1;
  
  /* Set pointers */
  i = 1; p = args;
  (*word)[0] = args; (*part)[0] = string;
  while(*p && *(p+1)) {
    if(isspace(*p)) { 
	  if(!isspace(*(p+1))) {
	    (*word)[i] = p+1;
		(*part)[i] = string + ((p+1) - args);
		i++;
	  }
      *p = '\0';
	}
	p++;
  }
    
  return count;
}

int main(int argc, char **argv) {
  char *test = "  \t  This is\tonly  a \t test  \t  ";
  char **word, **part;
  int count;
  
  count = parse_string(test, &word, &part);
  if(count > 0) {
    printf("Word %i = %s\n", count, part[count-1]);
  } else {
    printf("Parse failed: %i\n", count);
  }
  return 0;
}