new file mode 100644
--- /dev/null
+++ b/scripts/plot/private/__getlegenddata__.m
@@ -0,0 +1,63 @@
+## Copyright (C) 2010-2011 David Bateman
+##
+## 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{hplots}, @var{strings}]} = __getlegenddata__ (@var{h})
+## Undocumented internal function.
+## @end deftypefn
+
+function [hplots, text_strings] = __getlegenddata__ (hlegend)
+  hplots = [];
+  text_strings = {};
+  ca = getfield (get (hlegend, "userdata"), "handle");
+  kids = [];
+  for i = 1  : numel (ca)
+    kids = [kids; get(ca (i), "children")];
+  endfor
+  k = numel (kids);
+  while (k > 0)
+    typ = get (kids(k), "type");
+    while (k > 0
+           && ! (strcmp (typ, "line") || strcmp (typ, "surface")
+                 || strcmp (typ, "patch") || strcmp (typ, "hggroup")))
+      typ = get (kids(--k), "type");
+    endwhile
+    if (k > 0)
+      if (strcmp (get (kids(k), "type"), "hggroup"))
+        hgkids = get (kids(k), "children");
+        for j = 1 : length (hgkids)
+          hgobj = get (hgkids (j));
+          if (isfield (hgobj, "displayname")
+              && ! isempty (hgobj.displayname))
+            hplots = [hplots, hgkids(j)];
+            text_strings = {text_strings{:}, hbobj.displayname};
+            break;
+          endif
+        endfor
+      else
+        if (! isempty (get (kids (k), "displayname")))
+          hplots = [hplots, kids(k)];
+          text_strings = {text_strings{:}, get(kids (k), "displayname")};
+        endif
+      endif
+      if (--k == 0)
+        break;
+      endif
+    endif
+  endwhile
+endfunction