First word of a variable

First word of a variable: Can you please tell me how to extract the first *word* out of a variable? Not knowing the exact length of the word I can't use the following command:

Set V[x] "00113100 123321 456654"
Set V[y] "&V[x](1-8)"

There are two ways to find the first word in a string:

// Test string
Set V[x] "abc xyz 123"   // -> "abc"

// Variant 1
Set V[i] 1

label check_space
Set V[char]   "&V[x] (&V[i],&V[i]) "
if V[char]
    Set V[i] &V[i] + 1
    goto check_space
endif

Set V[w] "&V[x](1,&V[i]) "

// Variant 2
Set V[w] "&V[x]" search= ""