sub abbr {
  my %opt = @_;

  die("Sorry, I can't return an abbreviation if you don't give me a name.") if !$opt{name};

  my $name = $opt{name};
     $name =~ s/^(The|A|An) //i;

  if ($name !~ /[ _-]/) {
    return $opt{name};
  }
  else {
    my @abbr;
    for my $word (split(/[ _-]/,$name)) {
      push @abbr, substr($word,0,1);
    }
    
    my $raw_abbr = $opt{periods} && $opt{periods} =~ /^[yt1]/i ? join('',map { $_ =~ s/$/./; $_; } @abbr) : join('',@abbr);
    
    my $final_abbr = $opt{ALLCAPS} && $opt{ALLCAPS} =~ /^[yt1]/i ? uc $raw_abbr : $raw_abbr;
    
    if ($opt{HTML} && $opt{HTML} =~ /^[yt1]/i) {
      return qq(<abbr title="$opt{name}">$final_abbr</abbr>);
    }
    else {
      return $final_abbr;
    }
  }
}

sub initials {
  my %opt = @_;
  
  my $initials = abbr(
    name => $opt{name} ? $opt{name} : die("Sorry, I can't return initials if you don't give me a name."),
    periods => $opt{periods} ? $opt{periods} : undef,
    ALLCAPS => $opt{ALLCAPS} ? $opt{ALLCAPS} : undef,
    HTML => $opt{HTML} ? $opt{HTML} : undef,
  );
  
  return $initials;
}