local M = {}

-- the filter module  must implement the load_filter function
function M.load_filters(filters, load_filter)
       local sequence = {}
       if type(filters) == "string" then
               table.insert(sequence,load_filter(filters))
       elseif type(filters) == "table" then
               for _,n in ipairs(filters) do
                       if type(n) == "string" then
                               table.insert(sequence,load_filter(n))
                       elseif type(n) == "function" then
                               table.insert(sequence, n)
                       end
               end
       elseif type(filters) == "function" then
               table.insert(sequence, filters)
       else
               return false, "Argument to filter must be either\ntable with filter names, or single filter name"
       end
 return sequence
end

function M.load_input_file(filename)
 if not filename then return false, "filters: no filename" end
 local input = nil

 if filename then
   local file = io.open(filename,"r")
   input = file:read("*all")
   file:close()
 end
 return input
end

function M.save_input_file(filename, input)
 local file = io.open(filename,"w")
 file:write(input)
 file:close()
end

return M