protected static String grindString(String s0) {
    // strip the enclosing quotes and handle backslash conversions.
    //   (Matlab backslash conversions defined by 'help sprintf').
    String s1 = s0.substring(1, s0.length()-1);
    StringBuffer buf = new StringBuffer();
    for(int i = 0; i < s1.length(); i++) {
      char c = s1.charAt(i);
      if(c == '\\') {
        c = s1.charAt(++i);
        switch(c) {
          case 'n': c = '\n'; break;
          case 'r': c = '\r'; break;
          case 't': c = '\t'; break;
          case 'b': c = '\b'; break;
          case 'f': c = '\f'; break;
          default: break;
        }
      }
      buf.append(c);
    }
    return(buf.toString());
  }