// tok should be the output of htmlcoarsetok
static L<S> dropAllTags(L<S> tok) {
  new L<S> list;
  for i over tok: {
    S t = tok.get(i);
    if (odd(i) && t.startsWith("<")) {
      list.set(list.size()-1, list.get(list.size()-1) + tok.get(i+1));
      ++i;
    } else
      list.add(t);
  }
  return list;
}

// alternatively, call this convenient function
static S dropAllTags(S html) {
  if (!contains(html, '<')) ret html;
  return join(dropAllTags(htmlcoarsetok(html)));
}