sub split_decode {
# --------------------------------------------------------
# Takes one line of the database as input and returns an
# array of all the values. It replaces special mark up that
# join_encode makes such as replacing the '``' symbol with a
# newline and the '~~' symbol with a database delimeter.

my ($input) = shift;
$input =~ s/\:/__DELIM__/g; # Add a space if we have delimiter new line.
my @array = split /\:/g, $input;
foreach (@array) {
s/__DELIM__/:/g; # Convert __DELIM__ back into :
s/~~/:/g; # Retrieve Delimiter..
s/``/\n/g; # Change '' back to newlines..
s/&/&/g; # encode ampersand 02/01/2017
}

return @array;
}