--- a/crates/jrsonnet-evaluator/src/builtin/mod.rs
+++ b/crates/jrsonnet-evaluator/src/builtin/mod.rs
@@ -623,12 +623,15 @@
 }
 
 #[jrsonnet_macros::builtin]
-fn builtin_splitlimit(str: IStr, c: char, maxsplits: Either![usize, M1]) -> Result<VecVal> {
+fn builtin_splitlimit(str: IStr, c: IStr, maxsplits: Either![usize, M1]) -> Result<VecVal> {
 	use Either2::*;
-	Ok(VecVal(match maxsplits {
-		A(n) => str.splitn(n + 1, c).map(|s| Val::Str(s.into())).collect(),
-		B(_) => str.split(c).map(|s| Val::Str(s.into())).collect(),
-	}))
+	Ok(VecVal(Cc::new(match maxsplits {
+		A(n) => str
+			.splitn(n + 1, &c as &str)
+			.map(|s| Val::Str(s.into()))
+			.collect(),
+		B(_) => str.split(&c as &str).map(|s| Val::Str(s.into())).collect(),
+	})))
 }
 
 #[jrsonnet_macros::builtin]
--- a/crates/jrsonnet-stdlib/src/std.jsonnet
+++ b/crates/jrsonnet-stdlib/src/std.jsonnet
@@ -122,11 +122,7 @@
     assert std.length(str) > 0 : 'Not hexadecimal: ""';
     parse_nat(str, 16),
 
-  split(str, c)::
-    assert std.isString(str) : 'std.split first parameter should be a string, got ' + std.type(str);
-    assert std.isString(c) : 'std.split second parameter should be a string, got ' + std.type(c);
-    assert std.length(c) == 1 : 'std.split second parameter should have length 1, got ' + std.length(c);
-    std.splitLimit(str, c, -1),
+  split(str, c):: std.splitLimit(str, c, -1),
 
   splitLimit:: $intrinsic(splitLimit),