new_contents: #! /usr/bin/python3
  
  import sys
  import argparse
  import xml_utils as u
  import os
  from argparse import RawTextHelpFormatter
  
  ##----------------------------------------------------------
  ##  for each label that has more than the mininum count, select the 
  ##  largest subset less than the maxinum count. 
  ##   writes out to a new xml file.
  ##----------------------------------------------------------
  def main (argv) :
  	parser = argparse.ArgumentParser(description='Select a subset if label count falls between min and max.',
  		formatter_class=RawTextHelpFormatter)
  	parser.add_argument ('image_db')
  	parser.add_argument ('min', default=0)
  	parser.add_argument ('max', default=0)
  	parser.add_argument ('files', nargs='+')
  	parser.add_argument ('-o', '-out', '--output')
  	parser.add_argument ('-filetype', '--filetype', default="chips",
  		help='Type of input file <images|faces|chips>. Defaults to "chips".')
  	parser.add_argument ('-v', '--verbosity', type=int, default=1,
  		choices=[0, 1, 2, 3], help='')
  		# help="increase output verbosity"
  	u.set_argv (argv)
  	args = parser.parse_args()
  	u.set_verbosity (args.verbosity)
  	u.set_argv (argv)
  	u.set_filetype ('faces')
  	verbose = 0
  	if verbose > 0:
  		print("files: ", args.files)
  
  	filetypes = ['images', 'chips', 'faces']
  	filetype = args.filetype
  	if filetype not in filetypes :
  		print('unrecognized filetype :', filetype, 'should be one of:', filetypes)
  		return
  	output_file = 'selected_' + u.current_datetime () + '.xml'
  	if args.output : # user specified
  		if not os.path.exists (args.output) :
  			output_file = args.output
  		else :
  			print ('output file exists, writing to', output_file)
  	u.select_labels_minmax (args.files, args.image_db, args.min, args.max, output_file, filetype)
  
  if __name__ == "__main__":
  	main (sys.argv)
  
  
subject: Select a subset for each label. If the label image count is greater than min, return the greatest number of images less than or equal to the max. The images will be evenly distributed across years, seasons and days.