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+++ b/scripts/path/setpath.m
@@ -0,0 +1,43 @@
+## Copyright (C) 2006 John W. Eaton
+##
+## This program 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 of the License, or
+## (at your option) any later version.
+##
+## This program 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 this program; if not, write to the Free Software
+## Foundation, Inc., 59 Temple Place, Suite 330, Boston, MA  02111-1307  USA
+
+## -*- texinfo -*-
+## @deftypefn {Function File} @var{opath} setpath (@var{npath})
+## Set @code{LOADPATH} to @var{path} and return the previous value.
+## 
+## @seealso{LOADPATH, addpath, rmpath, savepath}
+## @end deftypefn
+
+## PKGADD: mark_as_command setpath
+
+function opath = setpath (npath)
+
+  if (nargin == 1)
+    if (nargout > 0)
+      opath = LOADPATH;
+    endif
+    ## XXX FIXME XXX -- perhaps validate elements of npath to make sure
+    ## they are existing directories?
+    if (ischar (npath))
+      LOADPATH = npath;
+    else
+      error ("setpath: expecting argument to be a character string");
+    endif
+  else
+    usage ("opath = setpath (npath)");
+  endif
+
+endfunction