Split string with a single occurence (not twice) of a delimiter in Javascript

Question

This is better explained with an example. I want to achieve an split like this:

two-separate-tokens-this--is--just--one--token-another

->

Answer 1

str.match(/(?!-)(.*?[^\-])(?=(?:-(?!-)|$))/g);

Check this fiddle.

---

Explanation:

Non-greedy pattern (?!-)(.*?[^\-]) match a string that does not start and does not end with dash character and pattern (?=(?:-(?!-)|$)) requires such match to be followed by single dash character or by end of line. Modifier /g forces function match to find all occurrences, not just a single (first) one.

---

Edit (based on OP's comment):

str.match(/(?:[^\-]|--)+/g);

Check this fiddle.

Explanation:

Pattern (?:[^\-]|--) will match non-dash character or double-dash string. Sign + says that such matching from the previous pattern should be multiplied as many times as can. Modifier /g forces function match to find all occurrences, not just a single (first) one.

Note:

Pattern /(?:[^-]|--)+/g works in Javascript as well, but JSLint requires to escape - inside of square brackets, otherwise it comes with error.