new file mode 100644
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/ls-oct-ascii.cc
@@ -0,0 +1,972 @@
+/*
+
+Copyright (C) 1996, 1997 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.
+
+*/
+
+// Author: John W. Eaton.
+
+#ifdef HAVE_CONFIG_H
+#include <config.h>
+#endif
+
+#include <cfloat>
+#include <cstring>
+#include <cctype>
+
+#include <fstream>
+#include <iomanip>
+#include <iostream>
+#include <memory>
+#include <string>
+
+#include "byte-swap.h"
+#include "data-conv.h"
+#include "file-ops.h"
+#include "glob-match.h"
+#include "lo-mappers.h"
+#include "lo-sstream.h"
+#include "mach-info.h"
+#include "oct-env.h"
+#include "oct-time.h"
+#include "quit.h"
+#include "str-vec.h"
+
+#include "Cell.h"
+#include "defun.h"
+#include "error.h"
+#include "gripes.h"
+#include "load-save.h"
+#include "oct-obj.h"
+#include "oct-map.h"
+#include "ov-cell.h"
+#include "pager.h"
+#include "pt-exp.h"
+#include "symtab.h"
+#include "sysdep.h"
+#include "unwind-prot.h"
+#include "utils.h"
+#include "variables.h"
+#include "version.h"
+#include "dMatrix.h"
+
+#include "ls-oct-ascii.h"
+
+// The number of decimal digits to use when writing ascii data.
+static int Vsave_precision;
+
+#define CELL_ELT_TAG "<cell-element>"
+
+// Used when converting Inf to something that gnuplot can read.
+
+#ifndef OCT_RBV
+#define OCT_RBV DBL_MAX / 100.0
+#endif
+
+// Functions for reading ascii data.
+
+static void
+ascii_save_type (std::ostream& os, const char *type, bool mark_as_global)
+{
+  if (mark_as_global)
+    os << "# type: global ";
+  else
+    os << "# type: ";
+
+  os << type << "\n";
+}
+
+static Matrix
+strip_infnan (const Matrix& m)
+{
+  int nr = m.rows ();
+  int nc = m.columns ();
+
+  Matrix retval (nr, nc);
+
+  int k = 0;
+  for (int i = 0; i < nr; i++)
+    {
+      for (int j = 0; j < nc; j++)
+	{
+	  double d = m (i, j);
+	  if (xisnan (d))
+	    goto next_row;
+	  else
+	    retval (k, j) = xisinf (d) ? (d > 0 ? OCT_RBV : -OCT_RBV) : d;
+	}
+      k++;
+
+    next_row:
+      continue;
+    }
+
+  if (k > 0)
+    retval.resize (k, nc);
+
+  return retval;
+}
+
+static ComplexMatrix
+strip_infnan (const ComplexMatrix& m)
+{
+  int nr = m.rows ();
+  int nc = m.columns ();
+
+  ComplexMatrix retval (nr, nc);
+
+  int k = 0;
+  for (int i = 0; i < nr; i++)
+    {
+      for (int j = 0; j < nc; j++)
+	{
+	  Complex c = m (i, j);
+	  if (xisnan (c))
+	    goto next_row;
+	  else
+	    {
+	      double re = real (c);
+	      double im = imag (c);
+
+	      re = xisinf (re) ? (re > 0 ? OCT_RBV : -OCT_RBV) : re;
+	      im = xisinf (im) ? (im > 0 ? OCT_RBV : -OCT_RBV) : im;
+
+	      retval (k, j) = Complex (re, im);
+	    }
+	}
+      k++;
+
+    next_row:
+      continue;
+    }
+
+  if (k > 0)
+    retval.resize (k, nc);
+
+  return retval;
+}
+
+// Skip white space and comments on stream IS.
+
+static void
+skip_comments (std::istream& is)
+{
+  char c = '\0';
+  while (is.get (c))
+    {
+      if (c == ' ' || c == '\t' || c == '\n')
+	; // Skip whitespace on way to beginning of next line.
+      else
+	break;
+    }
+
+  for (;;)
+    {
+      if (is && (c == '%' || c == '#'))
+	while (is.get (c) && c != '\n')
+	  ; // Skip to beginning of next line, ignoring everything.
+      else
+	break;
+    }
+}
+
+// Extract a KEYWORD and its value from stream IS, returning the
+// associated value in a new string.
+//
+// Input should look something like:
+//
+//  [%#][ \t]*keyword[ \t]*:[ \t]*string-value[ \t]*\n
+
+std::string
+extract_keyword (std::istream& is, const char *keyword)
+{
+  std::string retval;
+
+  char c;
+  while (is.get (c))
+    {
+      if (c == '%' || c == '#')
+	{
+	  OSSTREAM buf;
+	
+	  while (is.get (c) && (c == ' ' || c == '\t' || c == '%' || c == '#'))
+	    ; // Skip whitespace and comment characters.
+
+	  if (isalpha (c))
+	    buf << c;
+
+	  while (is.get (c) && isalpha (c))
+	    buf << c;
+
+	  buf << OSSTREAM_ENDS;
+	  const char *tmp = OSSTREAM_C_STR (buf);
+	  OSSTREAM_FREEZE (buf);
+	  int match = (strncmp (tmp, keyword, strlen (keyword)) == 0);
+
+	  if (match)
+	    {
+	      OSSTREAM value;
+	      while (is.get (c) && (c == ' ' || c == '\t' || c == ':'))
+		; // Skip whitespace and the colon.
+
+	      if (c != '\n')
+		{
+		  value << c;
+		  while (is.get (c) && c != '\n')
+		    value << c;
+		}
+	      value << OSSTREAM_ENDS;
+	      retval = OSSTREAM_STR (value);
+	      OSSTREAM_FREEZE (value);
+	      break;
+	    }
+	}
+    }
+
+  int len = retval.length ();
+
+  if (len > 0)
+    {
+      while (len)
+	{
+	  c = retval[len-1];
+
+	  if (c == ' ' || c == '\t')
+	    len--;
+	  else
+	    {
+	      retval.resize (len);
+	      break;
+	    }
+	}
+    }
+
+  return retval;
+}
+
+// Match KEYWORD on stream IS, placing the associated value in VALUE,
+// returning TRUE if successful and FALSE otherwise.
+//
+// Input should look something like:
+//
+//  [%#][ \t]*keyword[ \t]*int-value.*\n
+
+static bool
+extract_keyword (std::istream& is, const char *keyword, int& value)
+{
+  bool status = false;
+  value = 0;
+
+  char c;
+  while (is.get (c))
+    {
+      if (c == '%' || c == '#')
+	{
+	  OSSTREAM buf;
+
+	  while (is.get (c) && (c == ' ' || c == '\t' || c == '%' || c == '#'))
+	    ; // Skip whitespace and comment characters.
+
+	  if (isalpha (c))
+	    buf << c;
+
+	  while (is.get (c) && isalpha (c))
+	    buf << c;
+
+	  buf << OSSTREAM_ENDS;
+	  const char *tmp = OSSTREAM_C_STR (buf);
+	  int match = (strncmp (tmp, keyword, strlen (keyword)) == 0);
+	  OSSTREAM_FREEZE (buf);
+
+	  if (match)
+	    {
+	      while (is.get (c) && (c == ' ' || c == '\t' || c == ':'))
+		; // Skip whitespace and the colon.
+
+	      is.putback (c);
+	      if (c != '\n')
+		is >> value;
+	      if (is)
+		status = true;
+	      while (is.get (c) && c != '\n')
+		; // Skip to beginning of next line;
+	      break;
+	    }
+	}
+    }
+  return status;
+}
+
+// Extract one value (scalar, matrix, string, etc.) from stream IS and
+// place it in TC, returning the name of the variable.  If the value
+// is tagged as global in the file, return TRUE in GLOBAL.
+//
+// FILENAME is used for error messages.
+//
+// The data is expected to be in the following format:
+//
+// The input file must have a header followed by some data.
+//
+// All lines in the header must begin with a `#' character.
+//
+// The header must contain a list of keyword and value pairs with the
+// keyword and value separated by a colon.
+//
+// Keywords must appear in the following order:
+//
+// # name: <name>
+// # type: <type>
+// # <info>
+//
+// Where:
+//
+//  <name> : a valid identifier
+//
+//  <type> : <typename>
+//         | global <typename>
+//
+//  <typename> : scalar
+//             | complex scalar
+//             | matrix
+//             | complex matrix
+//             | string
+//             | range
+//             | string array
+//
+//  <info> : <matrix info>
+//         | <string info>
+//         | <string array info>
+//
+//  <matrix info> : # rows: <integer>
+//                : # columns: <integer>
+//
+//  <string info> : # length: <integer>
+//
+//  <string array info> : # elements: <integer>
+//                      : # length: <integer> (once before each string)
+//
+// Formatted ASCII data follows the header.
+//
+// Example:
+//
+//  # name: foo
+//  # type: matrix
+//  # rows: 2
+//  # columns: 2
+//    2  4
+//    1  3
+//
+// Example:
+//
+//  # name: foo
+//  # type: string array
+//  # elements: 5
+//  # length: 4
+//  this
+//  # length: 2
+//  is
+//  # length: 1
+//  a
+//  # length: 6
+//  string
+//  # length: 5
+//  array
+//
+// XXX FIXME XXX -- this format is fairly rigid, and doesn't allow for
+// arbitrary comments, etc.  Someone should fix that.
+
+// Ugh.  The signature of the compare method is not standard in older
+// versions of the GNU libstdc++.  Do this instead:
+
+#define SUBSTRING_COMPARE_EQ(s, pos, n, t) (s.substr (pos, n) == t)
+
+std::string
+read_ascii_data (std::istream& is, const std::string& filename, bool& global,
+		 octave_value& tc, int count)
+{
+  // Read name for this entry or break on EOF.
+
+  std::string name = extract_keyword (is, "name");
+
+  if (name.empty ())
+    {
+      if (count == 0)
+	error ("load: empty name keyword or no data found in file `%s'",
+	       filename.c_str ());
+
+      return std::string ();
+    }
+
+  if (name == CELL_ELT_TAG)
+    {
+      // This is OK -- name won't be used.
+    }
+  else if (! valid_identifier (name))
+    {
+      error ("load: bogus identifier `%s' found in file `%s'",
+	     name.c_str (), filename.c_str ());
+      return std::string ();
+    }
+
+  // Look for type keyword.
+
+  std::string tag = extract_keyword (is, "type");
+
+  if (! tag.empty ())
+    {
+      std::string typ;
+      size_t pos = tag.rfind (' ');
+
+      if (pos != NPOS)
+	{
+	  global = SUBSTRING_COMPARE_EQ (tag, 0, 6, "global");
+
+	  typ = global ? tag.substr (7) : tag;
+	}
+      else
+	typ = tag;
+
+      if (SUBSTRING_COMPARE_EQ (typ, 0, 6, "scalar"))
+	{
+	  double tmp = octave_read_double (is);
+	  if (is)
+	    tc = tmp;
+	  else
+	    error ("load: failed to load scalar constant");
+	}
+      else if (SUBSTRING_COMPARE_EQ (typ, 0, 6, "matrix"))
+	{
+	  int nr = 0;
+	  int nc = 0;
+
+	  if (extract_keyword (is, "rows", nr) && nr >= 0
+	      && extract_keyword (is, "columns", nc) && nc >= 0)
+	    {
+	      if (nr > 0 && nc > 0)
+		{
+		  Matrix tmp (nr, nc);
+		  is >> tmp;
+		  if (is)
+		    tc = tmp;
+		  else
+		    error ("load: failed to load matrix constant");
+		}
+	      else if (nr == 0 || nc == 0)
+		tc = Matrix (nr, nc);
+	      else
+		panic_impossible ();
+	    }
+	  else
+	    error ("load: failed to extract number of rows and columns");
+	}
+      else if (SUBSTRING_COMPARE_EQ (typ, 0, 4, "cell"))
+	{
+	  int nr = 0;
+	  int nc = 0;
+
+	  if (extract_keyword (is, "rows",    nr) && nr >= 0
+	      && extract_keyword (is, "columns", nc) && nc >= 0)
+	    {
+	      if (nr > 0 && nc > 0)
+		{
+		  Cell tmp (nr, nc);
+
+		  for (int j = 0; j < nc; j++)
+		    {
+		      for (int i = 0; i < nr; i++)
+			{
+			  octave_value t2;
+
+			  // recurse to read cell elements
+			  std::string nm
+			    = read_ascii_data (is, filename, global, t2, count);
+
+			  if (nm == CELL_ELT_TAG)
+			    {
+			      if (is)
+				tmp.elem (i, j) = t2;
+			    }
+			  else
+			    {
+			      error ("load: cell array element had unexpected name");
+			      goto cell_read_error;
+			    }
+			}
+		    }
+
+		cell_read_error:
+
+		  if (is)
+		    tc = tmp;
+		  else
+		    error ("load: failed to load cell element");
+		}
+	      else if (nr == 0 || nc == 0)
+		tc = Cell (nr, nc);
+	      else
+		panic_impossible ();
+	    }
+	  else
+	    error ("load: failed to extract number of rows and columns for cell array");
+	}
+      else if (SUBSTRING_COMPARE_EQ (typ, 0, 14, "complex scalar"))
+	{
+	  Complex tmp = octave_read_complex (is);
+	  if (is)
+	    tc = tmp;
+	  else
+	    error ("load: failed to load complex scalar constant");
+	}
+      else if (SUBSTRING_COMPARE_EQ (typ, 0, 14, "complex matrix"))
+	{
+	  int nr = 0;
+	  int nc = 0;
+
+	  if (extract_keyword (is, "rows", nr) && nr > 0
+	      && extract_keyword (is, "columns", nc) && nc > 0)
+	    {
+	      ComplexMatrix tmp (nr, nc);
+	      is >> tmp;
+	      if (is)
+		tc = tmp;
+	      else
+		error ("load: failed to load complex matrix constant");
+	    }
+	  else
+	    error ("load: failed to extract number of rows and columns");
+	}
+      else if (SUBSTRING_COMPARE_EQ (typ, 0, 12, "string array"))
+	{
+	  int elements;
+	  if (extract_keyword (is, "elements", elements) && elements >= 0)
+	    {
+	      // XXX FIXME XXX -- need to be able to get max length
+	      // before doing anything.
+
+	      charMatrix chm (elements, 0);
+	      int max_len = 0;
+	      for (int i = 0; i < elements; i++)
+		{
+		  int len;
+		  if (extract_keyword (is, "length", len) && len >= 0)
+		    {
+		      OCTAVE_LOCAL_BUFFER (char, tmp, len+1);
+
+		      if (len > 0 && ! is.read (X_CAST (char *, tmp), len))
+			{
+			  error ("load: failed to load string constant");
+			  break;
+			}
+		      else
+			{
+			  tmp [len] = '\0';
+			  if (len > max_len)
+			    {
+			      max_len = len;
+			      chm.resize (elements, max_len, 0);
+			    }
+			  chm.insert (tmp, i, 0);
+			}
+		    }
+		  else
+		    error ("load: failed to extract string length for element %d", i+1);
+		}
+
+	      if (! error_state)
+		tc = octave_value (chm, true);
+	    }
+	  else
+	    error ("load: failed to extract number of string elements");
+	}
+      else if (SUBSTRING_COMPARE_EQ (typ, 0, 6, "string"))
+	{
+	  int len;
+	  if (extract_keyword (is, "length", len) && len >= 0)
+	    {
+	      OCTAVE_LOCAL_BUFFER (char, tmp, len+1);
+
+	      if (len > 0 && ! is.read (X_CAST (char *, tmp), len))
+		{
+		  error ("load: failed to load string constant");
+		}
+	      else
+		{
+		  tmp [len] = '\0';
+
+		  if (is)
+		    tc = tmp;
+		  else
+		    error ("load: failed to load string constant");
+		}
+	    }
+	  else
+	    error ("load: failed to extract string length");
+	}
+      else if (SUBSTRING_COMPARE_EQ (typ, 0, 5, "range"))
+	{
+	  // # base, limit, range comment added by save ().
+
+	  skip_comments (is);
+	  Range tmp;
+	  is >> tmp;
+	  if (is)
+	    tc = tmp;
+	  else
+	    error ("load: failed to load range constant");
+	}
+      else
+	error ("load: unknown constant type `%s'", tag.c_str ());
+    }
+  else
+    error ("load: failed to extract keyword specifying value type");
+
+  if (error_state)
+    {
+      error ("load: reading file %s", filename.c_str ());
+      return std::string ();
+    }
+
+  return name;
+}
+
+// Save the data from TC along with the corresponding NAME, and global
+// flag MARK_AS_GLOBAL on stream OS in the plain text format described
+// above for load_ascii_data.  If NAME is empty, the name: line is not
+// generated.  PRECISION specifies the number of decimal digits to print. 
+// If STRIP_NAN_AND_INF is TRUE, rows containing NaNs are deleted,
+// and Infinite values are converted to +/-OCT_RBV (A Real Big Value,
+// but not so big that gnuplot can't handle it when trying to compute
+// axis ranges, etc.).
+//
+// Assumes ranges and strings cannot contain Inf or NaN values.
+//
+// Returns 1 for success and 0 for failure.
+
+// XXX FIXME XXX -- should probably write the help string here too.
+
+bool
+save_ascii_data (std::ostream& os, const octave_value& val_arg,
+		 const std::string& name, bool& infnan_warned,
+		 bool strip_nan_and_inf, bool mark_as_global,
+		 int precision)
+{
+  bool success = true;
+
+  if (! precision)
+    precision = Vsave_precision;
+
+  if (! name.empty ())
+    os << "# name: " << name << "\n";
+
+  long old_precision = os.precision ();
+  os.precision (precision);
+
+  octave_value val = val_arg;
+
+  if (val.is_range ())
+    {
+      Range r = val.range_value ();
+      double base = r.base ();
+      double limit = r.limit ();
+      double inc = r.inc ();
+      if (! (NINT (base) == base
+	     && NINT (limit) == limit
+	     && NINT (inc) == inc))
+	val = val.matrix_value ();
+    }	
+
+  if (val.is_string ())
+    {
+      ascii_save_type (os, "string array", mark_as_global);
+      charMatrix chm = val.char_matrix_value ();
+      int elements = chm.rows ();
+      os << "# elements: " << elements << "\n";
+      for (int i = 0; i < elements; i++)
+	{
+	  unsigned len = chm.cols ();
+	  os << "# length: " << len << "\n";
+	  std::string tstr = chm.row_as_string (i, false, true);
+	  const char *tmp = tstr.data ();
+	  if (tstr.length () > len)
+	    panic_impossible ();
+	  os.write (X_CAST (char *, tmp), len);
+	  os << "\n";
+	}
+    }
+  else if (val.is_range ())
+    {
+      ascii_save_type (os, "range", mark_as_global);
+      Range tmp = val.range_value ();
+      os << "# base, limit, increment\n";
+      octave_write_double (os, tmp.base ());
+      os << " ";
+      octave_write_double (os, tmp.limit ());
+      os << " ";
+      octave_write_double (os, tmp.inc ());
+      os << "\n";
+    }
+  else if (val.is_real_scalar ())
+    {
+      ascii_save_type (os, "scalar", mark_as_global);
+
+      double d = val.double_value ();
+
+      if (strip_nan_and_inf)
+	{
+	  if (xisnan (d))
+	    {
+	      error ("only value to plot is NaN");
+	      success = false;
+	    }
+	  else
+	    {
+	      d = xisinf (d) ? (d > 0 ? OCT_RBV : -OCT_RBV) : d;
+	      octave_write_double (os, d);
+	      os << "\n";
+	    }
+	}
+      else
+	{
+	  if (! infnan_warned && (xisnan (d) || xisinf (d)))
+	    {
+	      warning ("save: Inf or NaN values may not be reloadable");
+	      infnan_warned = true;
+	    }
+
+	  octave_write_double (os, d);
+	  os << "\n";
+	}
+    }
+  else if (val.is_real_matrix ())
+    {
+      ascii_save_type (os, "matrix", mark_as_global);
+
+      os << "# rows: " << val.rows () << "\n"
+	 << "# columns: " << val.columns () << "\n";
+
+      Matrix tmp = val.matrix_value ();
+
+      if (strip_nan_and_inf)
+	tmp = strip_infnan (tmp);
+      else if (! infnan_warned && tmp.any_element_is_inf_or_nan ())
+	{
+	  warning ("save: Inf or NaN values may not be reloadable");
+	  infnan_warned = true;
+	}
+
+      os << tmp;
+    }
+  else if (val.is_cell ())
+    {
+      ascii_save_type (os, "cell", mark_as_global);
+
+      os << "# rows: " << val.rows () << "\n"
+	 << "# columns: " << val.columns () << "\n";
+
+      Cell tmp = val.cell_value ();
+      
+      for (int j = 0; j < tmp.cols (); j++)
+	{
+	  for (int i = 0; i < tmp.rows (); i++)
+	    {
+	      octave_value o_val = tmp.elem (i, j);
+
+	      // Recurse to print sub-value.
+	      bool b = save_ascii_data (os, o_val, CELL_ELT_TAG,
+					infnan_warned, strip_nan_and_inf,
+					mark_as_global, 0);
+
+	      if (! b)
+		return os;
+	    }
+
+	  os << "\n";
+	}
+    }
+  else if (val.is_complex_scalar ())
+    {
+      ascii_save_type (os, "complex scalar", mark_as_global);
+
+      Complex c = val.complex_value ();
+
+      if (strip_nan_and_inf)
+	{
+	  if (xisnan (c))
+	    {
+	      error ("only value to plot is NaN");
+	      success = false;
+	    }
+	  else
+	    {
+	      double re = real (c);
+	      double im = imag (c);
+
+	      re = xisinf (re) ? (re > 0 ? OCT_RBV : -OCT_RBV) : re;
+	      im = xisinf (im) ? (im > 0 ? OCT_RBV : -OCT_RBV) : im;
+
+	      c = Complex (re, im);
+
+	      octave_write_complex (os, c);
+	      os << "\n";
+	    }
+	}
+      else
+	{
+	  if (! infnan_warned && (xisnan (c) || xisinf (c)))
+	    {
+	      warning ("save: Inf or NaN values may not be reloadable");
+	      infnan_warned = true;
+	    }
+
+	  octave_write_complex (os, c);
+	  os << "\n";
+	}
+    }
+  else if (val.is_complex_matrix ())
+    {
+      ascii_save_type (os, "complex matrix", mark_as_global);
+
+      os << "# rows: " << val.rows () << "\n"
+	 << "# columns: " << val.columns () << "\n";
+
+      ComplexMatrix tmp = val.complex_matrix_value ();
+
+      if (strip_nan_and_inf)
+	tmp = strip_infnan (tmp);
+      else if (! infnan_warned && tmp.any_element_is_inf_or_nan ())
+	{
+	  warning ("save: Inf or NaN values may not be reloadable");
+	  infnan_warned = true;
+	}
+
+      os << tmp;
+    }
+  else
+    gripe_wrong_type_arg ("save", val, false);
+
+  os.precision (old_precision);
+
+  return (os && success);
+}
+
+bool
+save_ascii_data_for_plotting (std::ostream& os, const octave_value& t,
+			      const std::string& name)
+{
+  bool infnan_warned = true;
+
+  return save_ascii_data (os, t, name, infnan_warned, true, false, 0);
+}
+
+// Maybe this should be a static function in tree-plot.cc?
+
+// If TC is matrix, save it on stream OS in a format useful for
+// making a 3-dimensional plot with gnuplot.  If PARAMETRIC is
+// TRUE, assume a parametric 3-dimensional plot will be generated.
+
+bool
+save_three_d (std::ostream& os, const octave_value& tc, bool parametric)
+{
+  bool fail = false;
+
+  int nr = tc.rows ();
+  int nc = tc.columns ();
+
+  if (tc.is_real_matrix ())
+    {
+      os << "# 3D data...\n"
+	 << "# type: matrix\n"
+	 << "# total rows: " << nr << "\n"
+	 << "# total columns: " << nc << "\n";
+
+      if (parametric)
+	{
+	  int extras = nc % 3;
+	  if (extras)
+	    warning ("ignoring last %d columns", extras);
+
+	  Matrix tmp = tc.matrix_value ();
+	  tmp = strip_infnan (tmp);
+	  nr = tmp.rows ();
+
+	  for (int i = 0; i < nc-extras; i += 3)
+	    {
+	      os << tmp.extract (0, i, nr-1, i+2);
+	      if (i+3 < nc-extras)
+		os << "\n";
+	    }
+	}
+      else
+	{
+	  Matrix tmp = tc.matrix_value ();
+	  tmp = strip_infnan (tmp);
+	  nr = tmp.rows ();
+
+	  for (int i = 0; i < nc; i++)
+	    {
+	      os << tmp.extract (0, i, nr-1, i);
+	      if (i+1 < nc)
+		os << "\n";
+	    }
+	}
+    }
+  else
+    {
+      ::error ("for now, I can only save real matrices in 3D format");
+      fail = true;
+    }
+
+  return (os && ! fail);
+}
+
+static int
+save_precision (void)
+{
+  double val;
+  if (builtin_real_scalar_variable ("save_precision", val)
+      && ! xisnan (val))
+    {
+      int ival = NINT (val);
+      if (ival >= 0 && ival == val)
+	{
+	  Vsave_precision = ival;
+	  return 0;
+	}
+    }
+  gripe_invalid_value_specified ("save_precision");
+  return -1;
+}
+
+void
+symbols_of_ls_oct_ascii (void)
+{
+  DEFVAR (save_precision, 15.0, save_precision,
+    "-*- texinfo -*-\n\
+@defvr {Built-in Variable} save_precision\n\
+This variable specifies the number of digits to keep when saving data in\n\
+text format.  The default value is 17.\n\
+@end defvr");
+}
+
+/*
+;;; Local Variables: ***
+;;; mode: C++ ***
+;;; End: ***
+*/
+