/* Return the position of the first alphabetic character in a string.  */
int first_alpha(const char *string, const char *exempt)
/* Return the position of the first alphabetic character in a string.  */
int first_alpha(const char *string, const char *exempt)
{
	int i, in_paren = 0, c;
	for (i = 0; i < strlen(string); i++) {
		c = tolower((int)string[i]);
		if (strchr("<[(", c))
			++in_paren;
		if (strchr(">])", c) && in_paren > 0)
			--in_paren;
		if ((!in_paren) && isalpha(c) && strchr(exempt, c) == 0)
			return i;
	}
	return 0;
}