EFFICIENT DATA CONVERSION OF LIST OF STRINGS

A method of converting a plurality of strings stored in an input buffer to a plurality of evenly spaced strings in an output buffer involves first passing over the input buffer and, for each string, placing the string in the output buffer at a next available address. If the string length is longer than a maximum string length, the maximum string length is set to the string length and the string is set as the last incorrectly placed string in the output buffer. The next available address in the output buffer is incremented by the maximum string length plus the product of any positive difference between the current string length and previous maximum string length and the number of strings already placed in the output buffer. A second pass over said output buffer from the last incorrectly placed string in a direction opposite the first passing step moves each string within the output buffer to an address being a multiple of the maximum string length from the start of the output buffer.