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+## Copyright (C) 2005 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, Inc., 51 Franklin Street, Fifth Floor, Boston, MA
+## 02110-1301, USA.
+
+## -*- texinfo -*-
+## @deftypefn {Built-in Function} {} hold @var{args}
+## Tell Octave to `hold' the current data on the plot when executing
+## subsequent plotting commands.  This allows you to execute a series of
+## plot commands and have all the lines end up on the same figure.  The
+## default is for each new plot command to clear the plot device first.
+## For example, the command
+##
+## @example
+## hold on
+## @end example
+##
+## @noindent
+## turns the hold state on.  An argument of @code{"off"} turns the hold
+## state off, and @code{hold} with no arguments toggles the current hold
+## state.
+## @end deftypefn
+
+## PKG_ADD: mark_as_command hold
+
+function hold (arg)
+
+  global __current_figure__;
+  global __hold_state__;
+
+  if (isempty (__current_figure__))
+    __current_figure__ = 1;
+  endif
+
+  if (isempty (__hold_state__))
+    __hold_state__ = false;
+  endif
+
+  if (length (__hold_state__) < __current_figure__)
+    __hold_state__(__current_figure__) = false;
+  endif
+
+  usage_msg = "hold (\"on\") or hold (\"off\")";
+
+  if (nargin == 0)
+    __hold_state__(__current_figure__) = ! __hold_state__(__current_figure__);
+  elseif (nargin == 1)
+    if (strcmp (arg, "on"))
+      __hold_state__(__current_figure__) = true;
+    elseif (strcmp (arg, "off"))
+      __hold_state__(__current_figure__) = false;
+    else
+      usage (usage_msg);
+    endif
+  else
+    usage (usage_msg);
+  endif
+
+endfunction