new file mode 100644
--- /dev/null
+++ b/scripts/plot/ylabel.m
@@ -0,0 +1,22 @@
+function ylabel (text)
+
+# usage: ylabel (text)
+#
+# Defines a label for the y-axis of a plot.  The label will appear the
+# next time a plot is displayed.
+#
+# See also: plot, semilogx, semilogy, loglog, polar, mesh, contour,
+#           bar, stairs, gplot, gsplot, replot, xlabel, title
+
+  if (nargin != 1)
+    error ("usage: ylabel (text)");
+  endif
+
+  if (isstr (text))
+    command = sprintf ("set ylabel \"%s\"", text);
+    eval (command);
+  else
+    error ("error: ylabel: text must be a string");
+  endif
+
+endfunction