diff --git a/src/IO.f90 b/src/IO.f90
index b8e4d0022..89f86ec63 100644
--- a/src/IO.f90
+++ b/src/IO.f90
@@ -48,7 +48,8 @@ implicit none(type,external)
     IO_color, &
     IO_error, &
     IO_warning, &
-    IO_STDOUT
+    IO_STDOUT, &
+    tokenize
 
 contains
 
@@ -727,6 +728,33 @@ pure function CRLF2LF(str)
 end function CRLF2LF
 
 
+!--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+!> @brief Fortran 2023 tokenize (first form).
+!--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+pure subroutine tokenize(string,set,tokens)
+
+  character(len=*), intent(in) :: string, set
+  character(len=:), dimension(:), allocatable, intent(out) :: tokens
+
+  integer, allocatable, dimension(:,:) :: pos
+  integer :: i, s, e
+
+
+  allocate(pos(2,0))
+  e = 0
+  do while (e < verify(string,set,back=.true.))
+    s = e + merge(verify(string(e+1:),set),1,scan(string(e+1:),set)/=0)
+    e = s + merge(scan(string(s:),set)-2,len(string(s:))-1,scan(string(s:),set)/=0)
+    pos = reshape([pos,[s,e]],[2,size(pos)/2+1])
+  end do
+  allocate(character(len=merge(maxval(pos(2,:)-pos(1,:))+1,0,size(pos)>0))::tokens(size(pos,2)))
+  do i = 1, size(pos,2)
+    tokens(i) = string(pos(1,i):pos(2,i))
+  end do
+
+end subroutine tokenize
+
+
 !--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 !> @brief Write statements to standard error.
 !--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
@@ -793,6 +821,7 @@ subroutine IO_selfTest()
 
   integer, dimension(:), allocatable :: chunkPos
   character(len=:),      allocatable :: str,out
+  character(len=:), dimension(:), allocatable :: tokens
 
 
   if (dNeq(1.0_pREAL, IO_strAsReal('1.0')))          error stop 'IO_strAsReal'
@@ -872,6 +901,54 @@ subroutine IO_selfTest()
   if ('abc,'//IO_EOL//'xxdefg,'//IO_EOL//'xxhij' /= IO_wrapLines('abc,defg, hij',filler='xx',length=4)) &
                                                      error stop 'IO_wrapLines/7'
 
+  call tokenize('','$',tokens)
+  if (size(tokens) /= 0 .or. len(tokens) /=0) error stop 'tokenize empty'
+  call tokenize('abcd','dcba',tokens)
+  if (size(tokens) /= 0 .or. len(tokens) /=0) error stop 'tokenize only separators'
+
+  tokens=['a']
+  call test_tokenize('a','#',tokens)
+  call test_tokenize('#a','#',tokens)
+  call test_tokenize('a#','#',tokens)
+
+  tokens=['aa']
+  call test_tokenize('aa','#',tokens)
+  call test_tokenize('$aa','$',tokens)
+  call test_tokenize('aa$','$',tokens)
+
+  tokens=['a','b']
+  call test_tokenize('a$b','$',tokens)
+  call test_tokenize('@a@$b@','$@',tokens)
+
+  tokens=['aa','bb']
+  call test_tokenize('aa$bb','$',tokens)
+  call test_tokenize('aa$$bb','$',tokens)
+  call test_tokenize('aa$bb$','$',tokens)
+
+  tokens=['aa  ','bbb ','cccc']
+  call test_tokenize('aa$bbb$cccc','$',tokens)
+  call test_tokenize('$aa$bbb$cccc$','$',tokens)
+  call tokenize('#aa@@bbb!!!cccc#','#@!',tokens)
+
+
+  contains
+  subroutine test_tokenize(input,delimiter,solution)
+
+    character(len=*), intent(in) :: input, delimiter
+    character(len=*), dimension(:), intent(in) :: solution
+
+    character(len=:), dimension(:), allocatable :: tok
+    integer :: i
+
+
+    call tokenize(input,delimiter,tok)
+    do i = 1,size(tok)
+      !if (solution(i) /= tok(i)) error stop 'tokenize "'//solution(i)//'" vs. "'//tok(i)//'"'      ! requires 2018 standard
+      if (solution(i) /= tok(i)) error stop 'tokenize'
+    end do
+
+  end subroutine test_tokenize
+
 end subroutine IO_selfTest
 
 end module IO
diff --git a/src/grid/VTI.f90 b/src/grid/VTI.f90
index 2749c1bb6..976d11067 100644
--- a/src/grid/VTI.f90
+++ b/src/grid/VTI.f90
@@ -201,26 +201,26 @@ subroutine cellsSizeOrigin(c,s,o,header)
   real(pREAL), dimension(3), intent(out) :: s,o
   character(len=*),          intent(in) :: header
 
-  character(len=:), allocatable :: temp
+  character(len=:), allocatable, dimension(:) :: temp
   real(pREAL), dimension(3) :: delta
   integer :: i
 
 
-  temp = getXMLValue(header,'Direction')
-  if (temp /= '1 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 1' .and. temp /= '') &                                               ! https://discourse.vtk.org/t/vti-specification/6526
+  temp = [getXMLValue(header,'Direction')]
+  if (temp(1) /= '1 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 1' .and. temp(1) /= '') &                                         ! https://discourse.vtk.org/t/vti-specification/6526
     call IO_error(error_ID = 844, ext_msg = 'coordinate order')
 
-  temp = getXMLValue(header,'WholeExtent')
-  if (any([(IO_intValue(temp,IO_strPos(temp),i),i=1,5,2)] /= 0)) &
+  call tokenize(getXMLValue(header,'WholeExtent'),' ',temp)
+  if (any([(IO_strAsInt(temp(i)),i=1,5,2)] /= 0)) &
     call IO_error(error_ID = 844, ext_msg = 'coordinate start')
-  c = [(IO_intValue(temp,IO_strPos(temp),i),i=2,6,2)]
+  c = [(IO_strAsInt(temp(i)),i=2,6,2)]
 
-  temp = getXMLValue(header,'Spacing')
-  delta = [(IO_realValue(temp,IO_strPos(temp),i),i=1,3)]
+  call tokenize(getXMLValue(header,'Spacing'),' ',temp)
+  delta = [(IO_strAsReal(temp(i)),i=1,3)]
   s = delta * real(c,pREAL)
 
-  temp = getXMLValue(header,'Origin')
-  o = [(IO_realValue(temp,IO_strPos(temp),i),i=1,3)]
+  call tokenize(getXMLValue(header,'Origin'),' ',temp)
+  o = [(IO_strAsReal(temp(i)),i=1,3)]
 
 end subroutine cellsSizeOrigin