apple
aardvark
accordion

banana
bilby
banjo

cherry
cockatoo
cello

Array
(
    [0] => apple
aardvark
accordion
[2] => banana
bilby
banjo
[3] => cherry
cockatoo
cello

$data=preg_split('/-/m',$data);

Array
(
    [0] => apple
aardvark
accordion

    [1] =>
banana
bilby
banjo

    [2] =>
cherry
cockatoo
cello
)