functions in string.i -

             getdate -- get date of the day in the form "DD/MM/YY"  
 
    
  SYNOPSIS: date= getdate();  
            getdate, date;  
    
  HISTORY: October 30, 1995 by Eric THIEBAUT.  
    

             gettime -- get current time in the form "HH:MM:SS"  
 
    
  SYNOPSIS: time= gettime();  
            gettime, time;  
    
  HISTORY: October 30, 1995 by Eric THIEBAUT.  
    

             is_scalar(object)  
 
     returns 1 if OBJECT is a scalar, else 0.  

             is_vector(object)  
 
     returns 1 if OBJECT is a vector (i.e., OBJECT has a single  
     dimension), else 0.  

             parsedate -- get numerical version of a timestamp  
 
    
  SYNOPSIS: parsedate, timestamp, day,month,year, hour,minute,second;  
            parsedate(timestamp)  
    
  HISTORY: October 30, 1995 by Eric THIEBAUT.  
    DHM modified for yorick-1.6 23/Jan/05  
    

             scalar -- get optional scalar parameter  
 
    
  PROTOTYPE  
    x = scalar(xarg, xdef, lt=, le=, gt=, ge=, type=, arg=, fn=);  
    
  ARGUMENTS  
    XARG    argument passed to the function.  
    XDEF    default value for the scalar argument (optional, if not  
            specified, then it is guessed that the caller must supply the  
            argument).  
  KEYWORDS  
    GE=     to be valid, XARG must be >= GE (optional, only one of GT or GE  
            can be used).  
    GT=     to be valid, XARG must be >  GT (optional, only one of GT or GE  
            can be used).  
    LE=     to be valid, XARG must be <= LE (optional, only one of LT or LE  
            can be used).  
    LT=     to be valid, XARG must be <  LT (optional, only one of LT or LE  
            can be used).  
    TYPE=   data type of the scalar (optional).  
    FN=     function name for error messages (optional string).  
    ARG=    argument name for error messages (optional string).  
    
  DESCRIPTION  
    Check XARG and return a scalar value (i.e., either XARG converted to TYPE  
    if it is not void or XDEF otherwise).  If XARG is not within any specified  
    bound or if it is not a scalar or if it is void (e.g., not specified) and  
    there is no default value XDEF, an error message is written out.  
    
  EXAMPLE  
    The following function has 2 scalar arguments X and Y, the 1st one is an  
    integer (of type long) which must be specified and be strictly greater  
    than 22 while the 2nd default to .5 and must be in [0., 1.]:  
      func foo(x,y) {  
          x= scalar(x,     gt=22,        type=long,   fn="foo", arg="X");  
          y= scalar(y, .5, ge=0., le=1., type=double, fn="foo", arg="Y");  
          ...  
      }  
    
  WARNING  
    There is no checking of consistency of options.  
    
  HISTORY: 29 Sept. 1995 by Eric THIEBAUT.  (Modified slightly by DHM)  

             strchr -- get first/last index of a character in a string   
 
    
  SYNOPSIS: i = strchr(s, c)  
            i = strchr(s, c, last=1)  
    
  DIAGNOSTIC: returns 0 if character C is not found in string S.  
    
  HISTORY: October 27, 1995 by Eric THIEBAUT.  
    DHM modified for yorick-1.6 23/Jan/05  
    
  ********** DEPRECATED **************  
    new code should use strfind directly  
    

             strtolower -- convert a string to lower case letters  
 
    
  SYNOPSIS: s2 = strtolower(s)  
    
  HISTORY: October 10, 1995 by Eric THIEBAUT.  
    DHM modified for yorick-1.6 23/Jan/05  
    
  ********** DEPRECATED **************  
    new code should use strcase directly  
    

             strtoupper -- convert a string to upper case letters  
 
    
  SYNOPSIS: s2 = strtoupper(s)  
    
  HISTORY: October 10, 1995 by Eric THIEBAUT.  
    DHM modified for yorick-1.6 23/Jan/05  
    
  ********** DEPRECATED **************  
    new code should use strcase directly