--- a/scripts/ChangeLog
+++ b/scripts/ChangeLog
@@ -1,3 +1,7 @@
+2008-01-30  John W. Eaton  <jwe@octave.org>
+
+	* strings/deblank.m: Improve compatibility.
+
 2008-01-29  John W. Eaton  <jwe@octave.org>
 
 	* strings/str2double.m: Delete unused variable FLAG_OCTAVE.

--- a/scripts/strings/deblank.m
+++ b/scripts/strings/deblank.m
@@ -34,13 +34,23 @@
     print_usage ();
   endif
 
-  if (ischar (s))
+  char_arg = ischar (s);
+
+  if (char_arg || isnumeric (s))
 
-    k = find (! isspace (s) & s != "\0");
-    if (isempty (s) || isempty (k))
-      s = "";
-    else
-      s = s(:,1:ceil (max (k) / rows (s)));
+    if (! isempty (s))
+      if (char_arg)
+	k = find (! isspace (s) & s != "\0");
+      else
+	warning ("deblank: expecting character string argument")
+	k = find (s != 0);
+      endif
+
+      if (isempty (k))
+	s = resize (s, 0, 0);
+      else
+	s = s(:,1:ceil (max (k) / rows (s)));
+      endif
     endif
 
   elseif (iscell(s))
@@ -48,16 +58,29 @@
     s = cellfun (@deblank, s, "UniformOutput", false);
 
   else
-    error ("deblank: expecting string argument");
+    error ("deblank: expecting character string argument");
   endif
 
 endfunction
 
-%!assert(strcmp (deblank (" f o o  "), " f o o"));
+%!assert (strcmp (deblank (" f o o  "), " f o o"));
+
+%!assert (deblank ([]), [])
+%!assert (deblank ({}), {})
+%!assert (deblank (""), "")
+
+%!assert (deblank ([0,0,0]), [])
+%!assert (deblank ('   '), '')
+%!assert (deblank ("   "), "")
+
+%!assert (typeinfo (deblank ("   ")), "string")
+%!assert (typeinfo (deblank ('   ')), "sq_string")
+
+%!assert (deblank ([1,2,0]), [1,2])
+%!assert (deblank ([1,2,0,32]), [1,2,0,32])
+
+%!assert (deblank (int8 ([1,2,0])), int8 ([1,2]))
 
 %!error deblank ();
 
 %!error deblank ("foo", "bar");
-
-%!error deblank (1);
-