public static byte[][] parseComparator(byte[] comparator) {
    final int index =
      Bytes.searchDelimiterIndex(comparator, 0, comparator.length, ParseConstants.COLON);
    if (index == -1) {
      throw new IllegalArgumentException("Incorrect comparator");
    }

    byte[][] result = new byte[2][0];
    result[0] = new byte[index];
    System.arraycopy(comparator, 0, result[0], 0, index);

    final int len = comparator.length - (index + 1);
    result[1] = new byte[len];
    System.arraycopy(comparator, index + 1, result[1], 0, len);

    return result;
  }
Splits a column in comparatorType:comparatorValue form into separate byte arrays
<p>
@param comparator the comparator
@return the parsed arguments of the comparator as a 2D byte array
hbase-client/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/filter/ParseFilter.java