string.split in lua

string.split.lua

--Returns a table splitting some string with a delimiter
--Changes to enhance the code from https://gist.github.com/jaredallard/ddb152179831dd23b230
function string:split(delimiter)
    local result = {}
    local from = 1
    local delim_from, delim_to = string.find(self, delimiter, from, true)
    while delim_from do
        if (delim_from ~= 1) then
            table.insert(result, string.sub(self, from, delim_from-1))
        end
        from = delim_to + 1
        delim_from, delim_to = string.find(self, delimiter, from, true)
    end
    if (from <= #self) then table.insert(result, string.sub(self, from)) end
    return result
end

Happened to pass by needing a lua string split polyfill. What exactly does this enhance from the original gist?

local example = '&$var.example.&$var'
example:split('&$var')

This will return '.example.' instead of ' ', '.example.', ' ' as before.
Alternatively, can be change to return '', '.example.', '' if pleased.