"use strict";
 const populate = function(target, element){
 //get an array containing elements from the document with the class specified
   let spans = document.getElementsByClassName(target);

   /*for each element, find the pre element inside. divide into individual strings
   on linebreaks and append each as a element of the specified type to the span*/
   for (let i = 0; i < spans.length; i++){

     let text = spans[i].getElementsByTagName("pre")[0].innerHTML;
     let paras = text.trim().split(/[\r\n]+/);

     for (let j = 0; j < paras.length; j++){
       let para = document.createElement(element);
       para.innerHTML = paras[j];
       spans[i].appendChild(para);
     };
   };
 };