new file mode 100644
--- /dev/null
+++ b/scripts/control/dezero.m
@@ -0,0 +1,88 @@
+## Copyright (C) 1996 Kurt Hornik
+##
+## 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.
+
+## usage:  dezero (s)
+##
+## Remove trailing blank entries and all zero entries from the string s.
+
+## Author: Kurt Hornik <Kurt.Hornik@ci.tuwien.ac.at>
+## Adapted-By: jwe
+## Adapted from deblank by A. S. Hodel (a.s.hodel@eng.auburn.edu)
+## 	(the name dezero is a reference to the Fermilab D0 experiment,
+##      where my sister did her PhD research) 
+## $Revision: 1.1.1.1 $
+## $Log: dezero.m,v $
+## Revision 1.1.1.1  1998/05/19 20:24:13  jwe
+##
+## Revision 1.3  1997/03/11 14:42:41  scotte
+## fixed implicit_str_to_num_ok bug a.s.hodel@eng.auburn.edu
+##
+## Revision 1.2  1997/03/03 22:52:20  hodel
+## fixed problem with conversion to/from numerical value
+## a.s.hodel@eng.auburn.edu
+##
+## Revision 1.1  1997/02/12 11:34:56  hodel
+## Initial revision
+##
+## Revision 1.3  1997/02/07 15:24:35  scotte
+## fixed to remove all null characters, then call deblank
+##
+
+function t = dezero (s)
+
+  if (nargin != 1)
+    usage ("dezero (s)");
+  elseif (isstr (s))
+
+    save_val = implicit_str_to_num_ok;
+    implicit_str_to_num_ok = 1;
+
+    #disp("dezero: entry, s=")
+    #s
+    #disp("/dezero")
+
+    [nr, nc] = size (s);
+    len = nr * nc;
+
+    if (len == 0)
+      t = s;
+    else
+
+      #disp("dezero: 1, s=")
+      #s
+      #disp("/dezero")
+
+      s = reshape (s, 1, len);
+
+      #disp("dezero: 2, s=")
+      #s
+      #disp("/dezero")
+
+      # need to remove zeros first, then call deblank
+      s = 1*s;
+      t = deblank(setstr(s(find(s != 0) )));
+    endif
+
+    implicit_str_to_num_ok = save_val;
+
+  else
+    error ("dezero: expecting string argument");
+  endif
+
+endfunction