you can also use like
$gettok(a.b.c.d.e,-3-,46) to get c.d.e
or
$gettok(a.b.c.d.e,-4--2,46) to get b.c.d
although
$gettok(a.b.c.d.e,2--2,46) dont work as I would have expected with a result of just b, i would have expected b.c.d, the parser must not like a smaller number second i guess.