idlastro / Miscellaneous (Non-Astronomy) Procedures: STRCOMPRESS2

[Source code]

NAME
STRCOMPRESS2
PURPOSE
Remove blanks around specified characters in a string
CALLING SEQUENCE
newstring = strcompress2( st, chars)
INPUTS
st - any scalar string
hars - scalar  or vector string specifing which characters around which 
      blanks should be removed.    For example, if chars=['=','-','+'] 
       then spaces around the three characters "=', '-', and '+' will 
      be removed.
OUTPUTS
newstring - input string with spaces removed around the specified 
 characters.   
EXAMPLE
The Vizier constraint string (see queryvizier.pro) does not allow 
blanks around the operators '=','<', or '>'.     But we do not want
to remove blanks around names (e.g. 'NGC 5342'):
IDL> st = 'name = NGC 5342, v< 23'
IDL> print,strcompress2(st, ['=','<','>'])
     name=NGC 5342, v<23
MODIFICATION HISTORY
Written by W.Landsman                   July 2008