def splittype(url):
    """splittype('type:opaquestring') --> 'type', 'opaquestring'."""
    global _typeprog
    if _typeprog is None:
        import re
        _typeprog = re.compile('^([^/:]+):')

    match = _typeprog.match(url)
    if match:
        scheme = match.group(1)
        return scheme.lower(), url[len(scheme) + 1:]
    return None, url
splittype('type:opaquestring') --> 'type', 'opaquestring'.