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+++ b/scripts/strings/hex2dec.m
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+# Copyright (C) 1996 John W. Eaton
+#
+# 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 2, 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, write to the Free
+# Software Foundation, 59 Temple Place - Suite 330, Boston, MA  02111-1307, USA.
+
+function d = hex2dec (h)
+
+# usage:  hex2dec (h)
+#
+# Returns the decimal number corresponding to the hex number in
+# quotes.  For example, hex2dec ("12B") and hex2dec ("12b") both
+# return 299.
+
+# Original version by Kurt Hornik <Kurt.Hornik@ci.tuwien.ac.at>.
+
+  if (nargin != 1)
+    usage ("hex2dec (x)");
+  endif
+
+  if (isstr (h))
+    nr = rows (h);
+    d = zeros (nr, 1);
+    for i = 1:nr
+      s = h (i, :);
+      if (isxdigit (s))
+	tmp = sscanf (s, "%x");
+	if (isempty (tmp))
+	  error ("hex2dec: invalid conversion");
+	else
+	  d (i) = tmp;
+	endif
+      else
+	error ("hex2dec: argument must be a string of hexadecimal digits");
+      endif
+    endfor
+  else
+    error ("hex2dec: expecting a string argument");
+  endif
+
+endfunction