FUNCTION CNVRT_ABC, abc
;
;
COMMON abc_common, abcread,     $;** 1 if abc.inc has been read
                   abcindex,    $;** integer array of activity buffer indices
                   abcstring     ;** string array of activity buffer messages

    sz = SIZE(abcread)
    IF (sz(1) EQ 0) THEN BEGIN   ;** read data from input file
        PRINT, "READING FROM abc.inc"
        file = getenv_slash('IDL_DIR')+'nrl_lib/lasco/packets/abc.inc'
        READFMT, file, 'A39,I5,A80', junk, ind, str, /SILENT
        abcindex = ind
        abcstring = str
        abcread = 1
    ENDIF

    index = WHERE(abcindex EQ abc)
    sz = SIZE(index)
    IF (sz(0) eq 0) THEN BEGIN
       PRINT, "%CNVRT_ABC: index ", abc, " not found in abc.inc"
       index = [-1]
    ENDIF ELSE IF (sz(1) NE 1) THEN BEGIN
        PRINT, "%CNVRT_ABC: multiple occurances of index ", abc, " in abc.inc, using first occurance."
    ENDIF
    index = index(0)

    IF (index LT 0) THEN $
        RETURN, '' $             ;** NO message found for given abc number
    ELSE BEGIN
        retstring = abcstring(index)
        retstring = STRTRIM(retstring, 2)
        slen = STRLEN(retstring)
        retstring = STRMID(retstring,3,slen-6)
        RETURN, retstring
    ENDELSE

END