strip = function(test)
    comment = test.indexOf("#")
    if comment == null then comment = test.indexOf(";")
    if comment then test = test[:comment]
    while test[-1] == " "
        test = test - " "
    end while
    return test
end function

print strip("This is a hash test    # a comment") + "."
print strip("This is a semicolon test   ;  a comment") + "."
print strip("This is a no comment test   ") + "."