local a = "test -\t- moo"
function string:split(sep) -- http://l...content-available-to-author-only...s.org/wiki/SplitJoin
local sep, fields = sep or ",", {}
local pattern = string.format("([^%s]+)", sep)
self:gsub(pattern, function(c) fields[#fields+1] = c end)
return fields
end
local s = a:split("\t")
for k,v in ipairs(s) do print(v) end
bG9jYWwgYSA9ICJ0ZXN0IC1cdC0gbW9vIgpmdW5jdGlvbiBzdHJpbmc6c3BsaXQoc2VwKSAtLSBodHRwOi8vbC4uLmNvbnRlbnQtYXZhaWxhYmxlLXRvLWF1dGhvci1vbmx5Li4ucy5vcmcvd2lraS9TcGxpdEpvaW4KICBsb2NhbCBzZXAsIGZpZWxkcyA9IHNlcCBvciAiLCIsIHt9CiAgbG9jYWwgcGF0dGVybiA9IHN0cmluZy5mb3JtYXQoIihbXiVzXSspIiwgc2VwKQogIHNlbGY6Z3N1YihwYXR0ZXJuLCBmdW5jdGlvbihjKSBmaWVsZHNbI2ZpZWxkcysxXSA9IGMgZW5kKQogIHJldHVybiBmaWVsZHMKZW5kCmxvY2FsIHMgPSBhOnNwbGl0KCJcdCIpCmZvciBrLHYgaW4gaXBhaXJzKHMpIGRvIHByaW50KHYpIGVuZA==