import re


def breakHexDirections(tape: str) -> list[str]:
    """
    Helper method to HexGrid: breaks a tape containing directions into a list of directions
    """
    directionsRE = re.compile("NE|NW|N|SE|SW|S|UL|UR|U|DL|DR|D")
    return directionsRE.findall(tape.upper())