PROC Strip(CHAR ARRAY text,chars,result)
  BYTE i,j,pos,found

  pos=text(0)
  FOR i=1 TO text(0)
  DO
    found=0
    FOR j=1 TO chars(0)
    DO
      IF text(i)=chars(j) THEN
        found=1 EXIT
      FI
    OD
    IF found THEN
      pos=i-1 EXIT
    FI
  OD
  WHILE pos>0 AND text(pos)='
  DO
    pos==-1
  OD
  SCopyS(result,text,1,pos)
RETURN

PROC Test(CHAR ARRAY text,chars)
  CHAR ARRAY result(255)

  Strip(text,chars,result)
  PrintF("""%S"", ""%S"" -> ""%S""%E%E",text,chars,result)
RETURN

PROC Main()
  Test("apples, pears # and bananas","#;")
  Test("apples, pears ; and bananas","#;")
  Test("qwerty # asdfg ; zxcvb","#")
  Test("qwerty # asdfg ; zxcvb",";")
  Test("   ;this is a comment","#;")
  Test("#this is a comment","#;")
  Test("       ",";")
  Test("","#")
RETURN