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+## Copyright (C) 2008 Bill Denney
+##
+## This file is part of Octave.
+##
+## Octave is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it
+## under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by
+## the Free Software Foundation; either version 3 of the License, or (at
+## your option) any later version.
+##
+## Octave is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but
+## WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
+## MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the GNU
+## General Public License for more details.
+##
+## You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
+## along with Octave; see the file COPYING.  If not, see
+## <http://www.gnu.org/licenses/>.
+
+## -*- texinfo -*-
+## @deftypefn {Function File} {@var{msgstr} =} nargoutchk (@var{minargs}, @var{maxargs}, @var{nargs})
+## @deftypefnx {Function File} {@var{msgstr} =} nargoutchk (@var{minargs}, @var{maxargs}, @var{nargs}, "string")
+## @deftypefnx {Function File} {@var{msgstruct} =} nargoutchk (@var{minargs}, @var{maxargs}, @var{nargs}, "struct")
+## Return an appropriate error message string (or structure) if the
+## number of outputs requested is invalid.
+##
+## This is useful for checking to see that the number of arguments supplied
+## to a function is within an acceptable range.
+## @seealso{nargchk, error, nargout, nargin}
+## @end deftypefn
+
+## Author: Bill Denney <bill@denney.ws>
+
+function msg = nargoutchk (mina, maxa, narg, outtype)
+
+  if (nargin < 3 || nargin > 4)
+    print_usage ();
+  elseif (mina > maxa)
+    error ("nargoutchk: minargs must be <= maxargs");
+  elseif (nargin == 3)
+    outtype = "string";
+  elseif (! any (strcmpi (outtype, {"string" "struct"})))
+    error ("nargoutchk: output type must be either string or struct");
+  elseif (! (isscalar (mina) && isscalar (maxa) && isscalar (narg)))
+    error ("nargoutchk: mina, maxa, and narg must be scalars");
+  endif
+
+  msg = struct ("message", "", "identifier", "");
+  if (narg < mina)
+    msg.message = "not enough output arguments";
+    msg.identifier = "Octave:nargoutchk:not-enough-outputs";
+  elseif (narg > maxa)
+    msg.message = "too many output arguments";
+    msg.identifier = "Octave:nargoutchk:too-many-outputs";
+  endif
+
+  if (strcmpi (outtype, "string"))
+    msg = msg.message;
+  else
+    if (isempty (msg.message))
+      msg = struct ([]);
+    endif
+    ## FIXME: remove the error below if error is modified to accept
+    ## struct inputs
+    error ("nargoutchk: error does not yet support struct inputs")
+  endif
+
+endfunction
+
+## Tests
+%!shared stmin, stmax
+%!  stmin = struct ("message", "not enough output arguments",
+%!                  "identifier", "Octave:nargoutchk:not-enough-outputs");
+%!  stmax = struct ("message", "too many output arguments",
+%!                  "identifier", "Octave:nargoutchk:too-many-outputs");
+%!assert (nargoutchk (0, 1, 0), "")
+%!assert (nargoutchk (0, 1, 1), "")
+%!assert (nargoutchk (1, 1, 0), "not enough output arguments")
+%!assert (nargoutchk (0, 1, 2), "too many output arguments")
+%!assert (nargoutchk (0, 1, 2, "string"), "too many output arguments")
+## Struct outputs
+#%!assert (nargoutchk (0, 1, 0, "struct"), struct([]))
+#%!assert (nargoutchk (0, 1, 1, "struct"), struct([]))
+#%!assert (nargoutchk (1, 1, 0, "struct"), stmin)
+#%!assert (nargoutchk (0, 1, 2, "struct"), stmax)