# 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 [xs, ys] = stairs (x, y)

# usage: [xs, ys] = stairs (x, y)
#
# Given two vectors of x-y data, stairs produces a `stairstep' plot.
#
# If only one argument is given, it is taken as a vector of y-values
# and the x coordiates are taken to be the indices of the elements.
#
# If two output arguments are specified, the data are generated but
# not plotted.  For example,
#
#   stairs (x, y);
#
# and
#
#   [xs, ys] = stairs (x, y);
#   plot (xs, ys);
#
# are equivalent.
#
# See also: plot, semilogx, semilogy, loglog, polar, mesh, contour,
#           bar, gplot, gsplot, replot, xlabel, ylabel, title 


  if (nargin == 1)
    if (is_vector (x))
      len = 2 * length (x);
      tmp_xs = tmp_ys = zeros (len, 1);
      k = 0;
      for i = 1:2:len
        tmp_xs(i) = k++;
        tmp_ys(i) = x(k);
        tmp_ys(i+1) = x(k);
        tmp_xs(i+1) = k;
      endfor
    else
      error ("stairs: argument must be a vector");
    endif
  elseif (nargin == 2)
    if (is_vector (x) && is_vector (y))
      xlen = length (x);
      ylen = length (y);
      if (xlen == ylen)
        len = 2 * xlen;
        tmp_xs = tmp_ys = zeros (len, 1);
	k = 1;
        len_m2 = len - 2;
	for i = 1:2:len_m2
	  tmp_xs(i) = x(k);
	  tmp_ys(i) = y(k);
	  tmp_ys(i+1) = y(k);
          k++;
	  tmp_xs(i+1) = x(k);
          if (x(k) < x(k-1))
            error ("stairs: x vector values must be in ascending order");
          endif
	endfor
        tmp_xs(len-1) = x(xlen);
        delta = x(xlen) - x(xlen-1);
        tmp_xs(len) = x(xlen) + delta;
        tmp_ys(len-1) = y(ylen);
        tmp_ys(len) = y(ylen);
      else
        error ("stairs: arguments must be the same length");
      endif
    else
      error ("stairs: arguments must be vectors");
    endif
  else
    usage ("[xs, ys] = stairs (x, y)");
  endif

  if (nargout == 0)
    plot (tmp_xs, tmp_ys);
  else
    xs = tmp_xs;
    ys = tmp_ys;
  endif

endfunction