; Open a journal file with a unique name
pro journ,file,directory=directory
         
  common cjourn,cfile
  ; If a journal is open, close it
  if !journal gt 0 then begin
    print,'closing journal file ',cfile
    journal 
    ; remove Amiga graphics and the last "journ" command
    spawn,"sed -e '//d' -e '/^journ$/d' "+cfile+" > "+cfile+".tmp ; mv "+cfile+".tmp "+cfile
    if n_elements(file) eq 0 then return
  end

  ; If no file given, make a name based on the date and time
  if n_elements(file) eq 0 then begin
    spawn,/noshell,['/bin/date','+%y%m%d.%H%M.jou'],timestr
    file=timestr(0)
    if keyword_set(directory) then begin
      if directory eq 1 then directory='~/idl_journals' 
      file=directory+'/'+file
    end
  end

  ; check so we don't overwrite an existing file
  openr,lun,/get,file,err=err
  if err ge 0 then begin
    close,lun
    free_lun,lun
    print,file,' exists, overwrite ?'
    a='n'
    read,a
    if a ne 'y' then return
  end
  print,"journal,'"+file+"'"
  journal,file 
  cfile=file
end