code: def return_period_from_string(arg):
      
      period = {}
  
      if arg[0] == '"' and arg[-1] == '"':
          opt = arg[1:-1]  # remove quotes
      else:
          opt = arg
  
      for o in opt.split(","):
          key, value = o.split("=")
          period[str(key)] = int(value)
  
      return period
docs: Takes a string such as "days=1,seconds=30" and strips the quotes
      and returns a dictionary with the key/value pairs