(defmacro dohash ((key value hash &optional end) &body body)
  `(progn (maphash #'(lambda (,key ,value) ,@body) ,hash)
         ,end))

(defun showh (h &key
              (indent 0) (stream t) (before "") (after "")
              (if-empty "empty")
              (show #'(lambda (x)
                        (format stream "~a~a = ~a~%"
                           (nchars indent) (first x) (rest x))))
              (lt #'lt)
	      (limit nil)
	      (ltfun #'car))
 (if (zerop (hash-table-count h))
     (format stream "~a~a~a" before if-empty after)
     (let (l)
       (format stream "~a" before) 
       (maphash #'(lambda (k v) (push (cons k v) l)) h)
       (mapc show 
	     (if (not (null limit))
		 (subseq (sort l #'(lambda (a b)
			     (funcall lt (funcall ltfun a) (funcall ltfun b)))) 0 limit)
		 (sort l #'(lambda (a b)
			     (funcall lt (funcall ltfun a) (funcall ltfun b))))))
       (format stream "~a" after)
       h)))

;(deftest test-showh ()
;  (let ((h (make-hash-table)))
;    (dolist (one '(apple pear banana))
;      (setf (gethash (length (string one)) h) one))
;   (check
;     (samep (with-output-to-string (s) (showh h  :stream s))
;            "4 = PEAR
;             5 = APPLE
;             6 = BANANA"))))