'Helper fxn in testing.'

def helper(self, directive, position):

    strf_output = time.strftime(('%' + directive), self.time_tuple)
    strp_output = _strptime._strptime_time(strf_output, ('%' + directive))
    self.assertTrue((strp_output[position] == self.time_tuple[position]), ("testing    of    '%s'    directive    failed;    '%s'    ->    %s    !=    %s" % (directive, strf_output, strp_output[position], self.time_tuple[position])))
