I can not make the variable "v" receive any characters while the variable "k" receives only alphanumeric

Question

Could someone help me with this?

I can not make the variable "v" receive any characters while the variable "k" receives only alphanumeric.

t = {}     
for k, v in string.gmatch(decrypt, "(%w+)=([^']*)") do
  t[k] = v
print(k,v)
end 

I have a file with the following content:

email=mbw@iue.com
ip=192.168.100.1
mac=af:45:t6:45:67

Answer 1

(maybe oversimplifying, if so, sorry...)
If you are trying to break the lines in your file at the '=' an assign them as key, value pairs in t:

--
-- PART I - read from a file
--
local file = "pattern.dat"                     -- our data file
local t = {}                                   -- hold file values
for l in io.lines(file) do                     -- get one line at a time
    local k, v = string.match(l, "(.+)=(.+)")  -- key, value delimited by '=''
    t[k] = v                                   -- save in table
    print(k,t[k])
end

print("\n\n")

--
-- PART II - read from data string
--
local data = "email=mbw@iue.com/ip=192.168.100.1/mac=af:45:t6:45:67"
data = data .. "/"                              -- need a trailing '/'
t = {}                                          -- hold data values
for l in string.gmatch(data, "(.-)/") do        -- get one 'line' at a time
    local k,v = string.match(l, "(.+)=(.+)")    -- key, value delimited by '=''
    t[k] = v
    print(k,t[k])
end

NOTE about the "^" anchor (from reference manual entry for 'gmatch'):

For this function, a caret '^' at the start of a pattern does not work as an anchor, as this would prevent the iteration. http://www.lua.org/manual/5.3/manual.html#pdf-string.gmatch