library(dplyr)
df <- data.frame(x = c(NA, "a-b", "a-d", "b-c", "d-e"))
df %>% extract(x, "A")
df %>% extract(x, c("A", "B"), "([[:alnum:]]+)-([[:alnum:]]+)")
# If no match, NA:
df %>% extract(x, c("A", "B"), "([a-d]+)-([a-d]+)")
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