yogi_Splitting Text Entry With Numerics Without Suppressing Leading Zeros

Yogi Anand, D.Eng, P.E.                                         Google Spreadsheet                            www.energyefficientbuild.com

QE2 said:

Spreadsheet field contains property parcel numbers in the format:  a99 999 999. I am using SPLIT formula =SPLIT(A1," ") to break the field apart into three chunks each in a separate column. SPLIT is deleting leading zeros on numeric chunks. I have set all columns to "plain text". Still deletes leading zeros. Please advise. 

Here is some data:col A: D02 003 030 

incorrect result: 

col B: D02 col C: 3 col D: 30

desired result: 

col B: D02 col C: 003 col D: 030

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In the following solution in Sheet1, I have assumed that the string to be split starts with a non-zero character