new file mode 100644
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/ls-oct-ascii.h
@@ -0,0 +1,50 @@
+/*
+
+Copyright (C) 2003 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.
+
+*/
+
+#if !defined (octave_ls_oct_ascii_h)
+#define octave_ls_oct_ascii_h 1
+
+extern std::string
+extract_keyword (std::istream& is, const char *keyword);
+
+extern std::string
+read_ascii_data (std::istream& is, const std::string& filename, bool& global,
+		 octave_value& tc, int count);
+
+extern 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);
+
+extern bool
+save_ascii_data_for_plotting (std::ostream& os, const octave_value& t,
+			      const std::string& name);
+
+#endif
+
+/*
+;;; Local Variables: ***
+;;; mode: C++ ***
+;;; End: ***
+*/
+