sub split_out_leading_number {
    my $s = shift;
    if ( $s =~/^((\d|,|\.)+)(.*)$/) {
        my ($leading_number, $rest) = ($1,$3);
        # Take any commas out of the number.
        $leading_number =~ s/,//g;
        return ($leading_number, $rest);
    }

    die "split_out_leading_number received bogus input '$s'!\n";
}