sub shift_until($\@) 
{
#usage: shift_until($somepattern, @list);
#this takes a @list and throws away lines until it hits $pattern
#$pattern can be a regexp.
#if $pattern isn't found, the list is emptied completely.
#it's good for parsing through garbage
#(hey, i never said it would be useful to everybody)
    my $pattern = shift;
    my $array_ref = $_[0];
    while (@$array_ref and not $$array_ref[0] =~ /$pattern/) 
    {
        shift @$array_ref;
    }
    (@$array_ref and return 1) or return 0;
}