If you use: $gettok(The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog,1-,32)

You get: The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog

The 1- is returning all tokens starting from the 1st through the last.

If you use: $gettok(The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog,2-5,32)

You get: quick brown fox jumps

The 2-5 is returning all tokens from the 2nd through the 5th.

If you use: $gettok(The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog,1--4,32)

You get: The quick brown fox jumps over

The 1--4 is returning all tokens starting from the 1st through the 4th from the last. (IE All but the last 3 tokens)