sub fixstring(_) {
my $_ = shift();
# these must be done in order, or else you'll
# -- miss zero-padding numbers
# -- accidentally convert Greek iota or xi to Roman numerals!
# STEP 1: Romans to Arabic
# convert valid Roman numeral to regular digits
# only do small numbers (no L,D,C,M)
# must be between boundaries for single-letters
# must have either boundaries for multi-letters
# First do the real Unicode Roman numerals,
# which are of course guaranteed to be Roman