new file mode 100644
--- /dev/null
+++ b/scripts/strings/blanks.m
@@ -0,0 +1,41 @@
+# Copyright (C) 1996 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.
+
+function s = blanks (n)
+  
+# usage:  blanks (n)
+#
+# Returns a string of n blanks.
+  
+# Original version by Kurt Hornik <Kurt.Hornik@ci.tuwien.ac.at>.
+
+  if (nargin != 1)
+    usage ("blanks (n)");
+  endif
+  
+  if (is_scalar (n) && n > 0 && n == round (n))
+    s = setstr (ones (1, n) * toascii (" "));
+  else
+    error ("blanks: n must be a positive integer");
+  endif
+  
+endfunction
+  
+
+
+