Superfluous

function split(str, pat)
   local t = {}
   local fpat = "(.-)" .. pat
   local last_end = 1
   local s, e, cap = str:find(fpat, 1)
   while s do
      if s ~= 1 or cap ~= "" then
     table.insert(t,cap)
      end
      last_end = e+1
      s, e, cap = str:find(fpat, last_end)
   end
   if last_end <= #str then
      cap = str:sub(last_end)
      table.insert(t, cap)
   end
   return t
end

function todict(str, pat1,pat2)
   local t = {}
   local fpat = "(.-)" .. pat1
   local last_end = 1
   local s, e, cap = str:find(fpat, 1)
   while s do
      if s ~= 1 or cap ~= "" then
         x = split(cap,pat2)
         t[x[1] ] = x[2]
      end
      last_end = e+1
      s, e, cap = str:find(fpat, last_end)
   end
   if last_end <= #str then
      cap = str:sub(last_end)
      x = split(cap,pat2)
      t[x[1] ] = x[2]
   end
   return t
end