+# split/map aligns here, so that agent_virt can add a column
+# (search-html.html will split aligns also if they aren't already split)
+my %align = (
+ 'l' => 'left',
+ 'r' => 'right',
+ 'c' => 'center',
+ ' ' => '',
+ '.' => '',
+);
+$opt{align} = [ map $align{$_}, split(//, $opt{align}) ],
+ unless !$opt{align} || ref($opt{align});
+
+# get our queries ready
+my $query = $opt{query} or die "query required";
+my $count_query = $opt{count_query} or die "count_query required";
+# there was a default count_query but it hasn't worked in about ten years
+
+# set up agent restriction