This uses string:split/3 - but what if it is a list of 0 or more atoms, not 1 or more:
1> string:split("a,b,c",",",all).
["a","b","c"]
2> string:split("a",",",all).
["a"]
3> string:split("",",",all).
[[]]
If it uses string:lexemes/2 ...
5> string:lexemes("a,b,c",",").
["a","b","c"]
6> string:lexemes("a",",").
["a"]
7> string:lexemes("",",").
[]