getWordDashSpaceTable.lua

local string_gmatch = string.gmatch
local function getWordDashSpaceTable(txt, tbl)
	local tbl, numTbl = tbl or {}, 0
	for word1, dash, word2, space in string_gmatch(txt, "([^%-%s]*)(%-)(%S*)(%s*)") do
		tbl[numTbl + 1] = word1
		tbl[numTbl + 2] = dash
		tbl[numTbl + 3] = word2
		tbl[numTbl + 4] = space
		numTbl = numTbl + 4
	end
	return tbl
end

---

local testCases = {
	"John-dash summer-wind",
	"-Noname  Two-space",
	"Accept-the-first-dash ignored",
	"word-word ignored word2-word2",
	"- empty-person",
	"many-results in-one string-are right-here"
}

local testCase, testCaseResult
for index = 1, #testCases do
	testCase = testCases[index]
	print("\nTest Case: "..testCase)
	testCaseResult = getWordDashSpaceTable(testCase)
	for testCaseIndex = 1, #testCaseResult do
		print(testCaseResult[testCaseIndex])
	end
end

---

--[[ Explanation
http://wiki.roblox.com/index.php?title=Global_namespace/String_manipulation#string.match
http://wiki.roblox.com/index.php?title=Global_namespace/String_manipulation#string.gmatch
https://www.lua.org/pil/7.1.html (iterators)
http://wiki.roblox.com/index.php?title=String_pattern

string.gmatch will return all of the results like :match, but as an iterator.
It works similar to `pairs(table)` or `next, table`, but instead it returns the
 results of a string pattern match on each loop, allowing you to iterate through
 every match in the string.
The pattern:

([^%-]*)(%-)(%S*)(%s+)
  ([^%-]*)
    () is used to capture a section, meaning it gets returned as a variable.
	[] is used to denote a set. A set defines what characters should be matched
	  [^] denotes a complement set, it will match all characters except whatever is provided.
	%- means the `-` character. It is 'pattern escaped' here.
	  - is normally a 'magic character' that matches as few of a certain character
	   or set as possible. By putting % in front, we make it literally mean the `-`
	   character, instead of the 'magic' `-`.
	%s is a character class. It matches all whitespace characters. That is, space, tab, newline and carriage return.
	* is a magic character and quantifier that mean to match 0 or more, and as many as possible, or
	 a character or set of characters.
	All together: Capture a matching of 0 or more and as many as possible of any characters that are not literally -
  (%-)
    These were all explained previously.
	Capture a matching of literally -
  (%S*)
    %s is a character class. It matches all whitespace characters. That is, space, tab, newline and carriage return.
      %S is a complement character class, just like a complement set. It matches
	   allcharacters except whitespace characters.
    Capture a matching of 0 or more and as many as possible of all characters except whitespace
  (%s*)
	Capture a matching of 0 or more and as many as possible of whitespace characters

To put it all together:
  Capture a matching of 0 or more and as many as possible of any characters that are not literally -
  Capture a matching of literally -
  Capture a matching of 0 or more and as many as possible of all characters except whitespace
  Capture a matching of 1 or more and as many as possible of whitespace characters
]]