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1 Summary of changes for version 2.0: |
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2 ---------------------------------- |
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3 |
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4 * The set and show commands for setting and displaying gnuplot |
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5 parameters have been replaced by gset and gshow. This change will |
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6 probably break lots of things, but it is necessary to allow for |
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7 compatibility with the Matlab graphics and GUI commands in a |
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8 future version of Octave. (For now, the old set and show commands |
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9 do work, but they print an annoying warning message to try to get |
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10 people to switch to using gset.) |
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11 |
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12 * New data types can be added to Octave by writing a C++ class. On |
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13 systems that support dynamic linking, new data types can be added |
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14 to an already running Octave binary. A simple example appears in |
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15 the file examples/make_int.cc. Other examples are the standard |
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16 Octave data types defined in the files src/ov*.{h,cc} and |
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17 src/op-*.cc. [This feature should be better documented by the |
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18 time 2.0 is released]. |
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19 |
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20 * The configure option --enable-bounds-check turns on bounds |
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21 checking on element references for Octave's internal array and |
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22 matrix classes. It's enabled by default. To disable this |
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23 feature, configure Octave with --disable-bounds-check. |
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24 |
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25 * The C-style I/O functions (fopen, fprintf, etc.) have been |
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26 rewritten to be more compatible with Matlab. The fputs function |
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27 has also been added. Usage of the *printf functions that was |
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28 allowed in previous versions of Octave should still work. |
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29 However, there is no way to make the new versions of the *scanf |
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30 functions compatible with Matlab *and* previous versions of |
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31 Octave. An optional argument to the *scanf functions is now |
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32 available to make them behave in a way that is compatible with |
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33 previous versions of Octave. |
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34 |
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35 * Octave can now read files that contain columns of numbers only, |
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36 with no header information. The name of the loaded variable is |
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37 constructed from the file name. Each line in the file must have |
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38 the same number of elements. |
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39 |
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40 * The interface to the pager has changed. The new built-in variable |
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41 `page_output_immediately' controls when Octave sends output to the |
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42 pager. If it is nonzero, Octave sends output to the pager as soon |
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43 as it is available. Otherwise, Octave buffers its output and |
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44 waits until just before the prompt is printed to flush it to the |
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45 pager. |
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46 |
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47 * Expressions of the form |
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48 |
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49 A(i,j) = x |
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50 |
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51 where X is a scalar and the indices i and j define a matrix of |
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52 elements now work as you would expect rather than giving an error. |
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53 I am told that this is how Matlab 5.0 will behave when it is |
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54 released. |
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55 |
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56 * Indexing of character strings now works. |
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57 |
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58 * The echo command has been implemented. |
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59 |
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60 * The document command is now a regular function. |
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61 |
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62 * New method for handling errors: |
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63 |
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64 try |
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65 BODY |
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66 catch |
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67 CLEANUP |
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68 end_try_catch |
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69 |
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70 Where BODY and CLEANUP are both optional and may contain any |
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71 Octave expressions or commands. The statements in CLEANUP are |
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72 only executed if an error occurs in BODY. |
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73 |
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74 No warnings or error messages are printed while BODY is |
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75 executing. If an error does occur during the execution of BODY, |
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76 CLEANUP can access the text of the message that would have been |
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77 printed in the builtin constant __error_text__. This is the same |
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78 as eval (TRY, CATCH) (which may now also use __error_text__) but |
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79 it is more efficient since the commands do not need to be parsed |
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80 each time the TRY and CATCH statements are evaluated. |
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81 |
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82 * Octave no longer parses the help command by grabbing everything |
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83 after the keyword `help' until a newline character is read. To |
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84 get help for `;' or `,', now, you need to use the command |
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85 `help semicolon' or `help comma'. |
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86 |
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87 * Octave's parser now does some simple constant folding. This means |
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88 that expressions like 3*i are now evaluated only once, when a |
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89 function is compiled, and the right hand side of expressions like |
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90 a = [1,2;3,4] are treated as true matrix constants rather than |
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91 lists of elements which must be evaluated each time they are |
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92 needed. |
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93 |
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94 * Built-in variables that can take values of "true" and "false" can |
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95 now also be set to any nonzero scalar value to indicate "true", |
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96 and 0 to indicate "false". |
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97 |
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98 * New built-in variables `history_file', `history_size', and |
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99 `saving_history'. |
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100 |
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101 * New built-in variable `string_fill_char' specifies the character |
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102 to fill with when creating arrays of strings. |
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103 |
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104 * If the new built-in variable `gnuplot_has_frames' is nonzero, |
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105 Octave assumes that your copy of gnuplot includes support for |
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106 multiple plot windows when using X11. |
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107 |
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108 If the new built-in variable `gnuplot_has_multiplot' is nonzero, |
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109 Octave assumes that your copy of gnuplot has the multiplot support |
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110 that is included in recent 3.6beta releases. |
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111 |
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112 The initial values of these variables are determined by configure, |
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113 but can be changed in your startup script or at the command line |
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114 in case configure got it wrong, or if you upgrade your gnuplot |
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115 installation. |
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116 |
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117 * The new plot function `figure' allows multiple plot windows when |
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118 using newer versions of gnuplot with X11. |
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119 |
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120 * Octave now notices when the plotter has exited unexpectedly. |
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121 |
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122 * New built-in variable `warn_missing_semicolon'. If nonzero, Octave |
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123 will warn when statements in function definitions don't end in |
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124 semicolons. The default value is 0. |
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125 |
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126 * Octave now attempts to continue after floating point exceptions |
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127 or out-of-memory errors. |
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128 |
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129 * If Octave crashes, it now attempts to save all user-defined |
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130 variables in a file named `octave-core' in the current directory |
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131 before exiting. |
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132 |
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133 * It is now possible to get the values of individual option settings |
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134 for the dassl, fsolve, lsode, npsol, qpsol, and quad functions |
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135 using commands like |
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136 |
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137 dassl_reltol = dassl_options ("relative tolerance"); |
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138 |
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139 * The svd() function no longer computes the left and right singular |
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140 matrices unnecessarily. This can significantly improve |
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141 performance for large matrices if you are just looking for the |
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142 singular values. |
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143 |
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144 * The filter() function is now a built-in function. |
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145 |
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146 * New function randn() returns a pseudo-random number from a normal |
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147 distribution. The rand() and randn() functions have separate |
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148 seeds and generators. |
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149 |
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150 * Octave's command-line arguments are now available in the built-in |
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151 variable `argv'. The program name is also available in the |
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152 variables `program_invocation_name' and `program_name'. If |
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153 executing a script from the command line (e.g., octave foo.m) or |
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154 using the `#! /bin/octave' hack, the program name is set to the |
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155 name of the script. |
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156 |
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157 * New built-in variable `completion_append_char' used as the |
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158 character to append to successful command-line completion |
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159 attempts. The default is " " (a single space). |
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160 |
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161 * Octave now uses a modified copy of the readline library from |
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162 version 1.14.5 of GNU bash. |
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163 |
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164 * In prompt strings, `\H' expands to the whole host name. |
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165 |
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166 * New built-in variable `beep_on_error'. If nonzero, Octave will try |
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167 to ring your terminal's bell before printing an error message. |
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168 The default value is 0. |
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169 |
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170 * For functions defined from files, the type command now prints the |
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171 text of the file. You can still get the text reconstructed from |
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172 the parse tree by using the new option -t (-transformed). |
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173 |
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174 * New command-line argument --traditional sets the following |
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175 preference variables for compatibility with Matlab: |
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176 |
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177 PS1 = ">> " |
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178 PS2 = "" |
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179 beep_on_error = 1 |
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180 default_save_format = "mat-binary" |
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181 define_all_return_values = 1 |
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182 do_fortran_indexing = 1 |
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183 empty_list_elements_ok = 1 |
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184 implicit_str_to_num_ok = 1 |
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185 ok_to_lose_imaginary_part = 1 |
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186 page_screen_output = 0 |
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187 prefer_column_vectors = 0 |
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188 prefer_zero_one_indexing = 1 |
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189 print_empty_dimensions = 0 |
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190 treat_neg_dim_as_zero = 1 |
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191 warn_function_name_clash = 0 |
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192 whitespace_in_literal_matrix = "traditional" |
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193 |
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194 * New functions: |
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195 |
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196 readdir -- returns names of files in directory as array of strings |
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197 mkdir -- create a directory |
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198 rmdir -- remove a directory |
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199 rename -- rename a file |
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200 unlink -- delete a file |
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201 umask -- set permission mask for file creation |
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202 stat -- get information about a file |
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203 lstat -- get information about a symbolic link |
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204 glob -- perform filename globbing |
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205 fnmatch -- match strings with filename globbing patterns |
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206 more -- turn the pager on or off |
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207 gammaln -- alias for lgamma |
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208 |
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209 * New audio functions from Andreas Weingessel |
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210 <Andreas.Weingessel@ci.tuwien.ac.at>. |
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211 |
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212 lin2mu -- linear to mu-law encoding |
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213 loadaudio -- load an audio file to a vector |
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214 mu2lin -- mu-law to linear encoding |
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215 playaudio -- play an audio file |
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216 record -- record sound and store in vector |
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217 saveaudio -- save a vector as an audio file |
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218 setaudio -- executes mixer shell command |
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219 |
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220 * New plotting functions from Vinayak Dutt. Ones dealing with |
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221 multiple plots on one page require features from gnuplot 3.6beta |
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222 (or later). |
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223 |
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224 bottom_title -- put title at the bottom of the plot |
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225 mplot -- multiplot version of plot |
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226 multiplot -- switch multiple-plot mode on or off |
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227 oneplot -- return to one plot per page |
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228 plot_border -- put a border around plots |
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229 subplot -- position multiple plots on a single page |
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230 subwindow -- set subwindow position for next plot |
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231 top_title -- put title at the top of the plot |
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232 zlabel -- put a label on the z-axis |
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233 |
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234 * New string functions |
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235 |
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236 bin2dec -- convert a string of ones and zeros to an integer |
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237 blanks -- create a string of blanks |
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238 deblank -- delete trailing blanks |
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239 dec2bin -- convert an integer to a string of ones and zeros |
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240 dec2hex -- convert an integer to a hexadecimal string |
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241 findstr -- locate occurrences of one string in another |
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242 hex2dec -- convert a hexadecimal string to an integer |
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243 index -- return position of first occurrence a string in another |
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244 rindex -- return position of last occurrence a string in another |
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245 split -- divide one string into pieces separated by another |
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246 str2mat -- create a string matrix from a list of strings |
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247 strrep -- replace substrings in a string |
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248 substr -- extract a substring |
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249 |
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250 The following functions return a matrix of ones and zeros. |
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251 Elements that are nonzero indicate that the condition was true for |
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252 the corresponding character in the string array. |
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253 |
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254 isalnum -- letter or a digit |
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255 isalpha -- letter |
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256 isascii -- ascii |
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257 iscntrl -- control character |
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258 isdigit -- digit |
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259 isgraph -- printable (but not space character) |
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260 islower -- lower case |
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261 isprint -- printable (including space character) |
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262 ispunct -- punctuation |
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263 isspace -- whitespace |
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264 isupper -- upper case |
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265 isxdigit -- hexadecimal digit |
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266 |
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267 These functions return new strings. |
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268 |
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269 tolower -- convert to lower case |
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270 toupper -- convert to upper case |
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271 |
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272 * New function, fgetl. Both fgetl and fgets accept an optional |
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273 second argument that specifies a maximum number of characters to |
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274 read, and the function fgets is now compatible with Matlab. |
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275 |
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276 * Printing in hexadecimal format now works (format hex). It is also |
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277 possible to print the internal bit representation of a value |
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278 (format bit). Note that these formats are only implemented for |
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279 numeric values. |
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280 |
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281 * Additional structure features: |
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282 |
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283 -- Name completion now works for structures. |
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284 |
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285 -- Values and names of structure elements are now printed by |
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286 default. The new built-in variable `struct_levels_to_print' |
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287 controls the depth of nested structures to print. The default |
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288 value is 2. |
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289 |
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290 -- New functions: |
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291 |
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292 struct_contains (S, NAME) -- returns 1 if S is a structure with |
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293 element NAME; otherwise returns 0. |
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294 |
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295 struct_elements (S) -- returns the names of all elements |
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296 of structure S in an array of strings. |
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297 |
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298 * New io/subprocess functions: |
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299 |
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300 fputs -- write a string to a file with no formatting |
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301 popen2 -- start a subprocess with 2-way communication |
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302 mkfifo -- create a FIFO special file |
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303 popen -- open a pipe to a subprocess |
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304 pclose -- close a pipe from a subprocess |
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305 waitpid -- check the status of or wait for subprocesses |
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306 |
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307 * New time functions: |
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308 |
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309 asctime -- format time structure according to local format |
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310 ctime -- equivalent to `asctime (localtime (TMSTRUCT))' |
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311 gmtime -- return time structure corresponding to UTC |
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312 localtime -- return time structure corresponding to local time zone |
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313 strftime -- print given time structure using specified format |
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314 time -- return current time |
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315 |
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316 The `clock' and `date' functions are now implemented in M-files |
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317 using these basic functions. |
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318 |
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319 * Access to additional Unix system calls: |
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320 |
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321 dup2 -- duplicate a file descriptor |
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322 exec -- replace current process with a new process |
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323 fcntl -- control open file descriptors |
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324 fork -- create a copy of the current process |
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325 getpgrp -- return the process group id of the current process |
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326 getpid -- return the process id of the current process |
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327 getppid -- return the process id of the parent process |
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328 getuid -- return the real user id of the current process |
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329 getgid -- return the real group id of the current process |
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330 geteuid -- return the effective user id of the current process |
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331 getegid -- return the effective group id of the current process |
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332 pipe -- create an interprocess channel |
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333 |
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334 * Other new functions: |
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335 |
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336 commutation_matrix -- compute special matrix form |
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337 duplication_matrix -- compute special matrix form |
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338 common_size.m -- bring arguments to a common size |
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339 completion_matches -- perform command completion on string |
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340 tilde_expand -- perform tilde expansion on string |
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341 |
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342 meshgrid -- compatible with Matlab's meshgrid function |
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343 tmpnam -- replaces octave_tmp_file_name |
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344 atexit -- register functions to be called when Octave exits |
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345 putenv -- define an environment variable |
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346 bincoeff -- compute binomial coefficients |
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347 nextpow2 -- compute the next power of 2 greater than a number |
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348 detrend -- remove a best fit polynomial from data |
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349 erfinv -- inverse error function |
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350 shift -- perform a circular shift on the elements of a matrix |
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351 pow2 -- compute 2 .^ x |
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352 log2 -- compute base 2 logarithms |
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353 diff -- compute differences of matrix elements |
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354 vech -- stack columns of a matrix below the diagonal |
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355 vec -- stack columns of a matrix to form a vector |
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356 xor -- compute exclusive or |
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357 |
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358 * Functions for getting info from the password database on Unix systems: |
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359 |
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360 getpwent -- read entry from password-file stream, opening if necessary |
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361 getpwuid -- search for password entry with matching user ID |
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362 getpwnam -- search for password entry with matching username |
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363 setpwent -- rewind the password-file stream |
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364 endpwent -- close the password-file stream |
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365 |
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366 * Functions for getting info from the group database on Unix systems: |
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367 |
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368 getgrent -- read entry from group-file stream, opening if necessary |
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369 getgrgid -- search for group entry with matching group ID |
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370 getgrnam -- search for group entry with matching group name |
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371 setgrent -- rewind the pgroup-file stream |
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372 endgrent -- close the group-file stream |
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373 |
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374 * The New function octave_config_info returns a structure containing |
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375 information about how Octave was configured and compiled. |
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376 |
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377 * New function getrusage returns a structure containing system |
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378 resource usage statistics. The `cputime' function is now defined |
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379 in an M-file using getrusage. |
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380 |
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381 * The info reader is now a separate binary that runs as a |
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382 subprocess. You still need the info reader distributed with |
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383 Octave though, because there are some new command-line arguments |
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384 that are not yet available in the public release of Info. |
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385 |
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386 * There is a new built-in variable, INFO_PROGRAM, which is used as |
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387 the name of the info program to run. Its initial value is |
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388 $OCTAVE_HOME/lib/octave/VERSION/exec/ARCH/info, but that value can |
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389 be overridden by the environment variable OCTAVE_INFO_PROGRAM, or |
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390 the command line argument --info-program NAME, or by setting the |
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391 value of INFO_PROGRAM in a startup script. |
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392 |
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393 * There is a new built-in variable, EXEC_PATH, which is used as |
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394 the list of directories to search when executing subprograms. Its |
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395 initial value is taken from the environment variable |
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396 OCTAVE_EXEC_PATH (if it exists) or PATH, but that value can be |
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397 overridden by the the command line argument --exec-path PATH, or |
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398 by setting the value of EXEC_PATH in a startup script. If the |
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399 EXEC_PATH begins (ends) with a colon, the directories |
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400 $OCTAVE_HOME/lib/octave/VERSION/exec/ARCH and $OCTAVE_HOME/bin are |
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401 prepended (appended) to EXEC_PATH (if you don't specify a value |
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402 for EXEC_PATH explicitly, these special directories are prepended |
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403 to your PATH). |
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404 |
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405 * If it is present, Octave will now use an `ls-R' database file to |
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406 speed up recursive path searching. Octave looks for a file called |
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407 ls-R in the directory specified by the environment variable |
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408 OCTAVE_DB_DIR. If that is not set but the environment variable |
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409 OCTAVE_HOME is set, Octave looks in $OCTAVE_HOME/lib/octave. |
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410 Otherwise, Octave looks in the directory $datadir/octave (normally |
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411 /usr/local/lib/octave). |
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412 |
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413 * New examples directory. |
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414 |
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415 * There is a new script, mkoctfile, that can be used to create .oct |
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416 files suitable for dynamic linking. |
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417 |
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418 * Many more bug fixes. |
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419 |
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420 * ChangeLogs are now kept in each subdirectory. |
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421 |
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422 See NEWS.1 for old news. |
