# $EPIC: mid.txt,v 1.2 2006/08/01 05:15:58 sthalik Exp $
======Synopsis:======
$__mid__(<start> <length> <text>)

======Technical:======
   * If <start> is omitted, this function returns the empty string.
   * If <length> is omitted, this function returns the empty string.
   * If <text> is omitted, this function returns the empty string.
   * If <start> is greater than the number of characters in <text>, this function returns the empty string.
   * If <length> is zero, this function returns the empty string.
   * If <length> is negative, this function returns the empty string. \\ --- THIS IS DIFFERENT FROM IRCII -- SEE PRACTICAL SECTION ---
   * Otherwise, this function skips over the first <start> characters in <text>, and then returns a copy of the next <length> characters after that.  This means that <start> "counts from zero".

======Practical:======
This function extracts a substring from a string.  This can be used to 
strip out the first few characters of a function, or to get a field from
a fixed-format string.  Although ircII lets you specify a negative value
for <length> to get the "rest" of the string, EPIC does not.  If you need
to get the "rest" of a string, use the $[[rest]]() function.

======Returns:======
A copy of a portion of <text>

======Examples:======
<file>
$mid(4 4 hello there)                returns "o th"
$mid(7 100 this is a long string)    returns " a long string"
$mid(7 -1 this is a long string)     returns ""
</file>

======History:======
This function first appeared in ircII.