# HG changeset patch
# User jwe
# Date 1050589992 0
# Node ID bfb14347a9fa3fdb08b0e73184af01afc36b0440
# Parent  5855de87265973faa291c5610e1e08ea672d8f02
[project @ 2003-04-17 14:33:12 by jwe]

diff --git a/src/ChangeLog b/src/ChangeLog
--- a/src/ChangeLog
+++ b/src/ChangeLog
@@ -1,3 +1,8 @@
+2003-04-17  John W. Eaton  <jwe@bevo.che.wisc.edu>
+
+	* ov-file.h (octave_file::empty_clone): Create an octave_scalar
+	object, not an octave_file object.
+
 2003-04-01  John W. Eaton  <jwe@bevo.che.wisc.edu>
 
 	* load-save.cc (hdf5_read_next_data): Extract list before
diff --git a/src/ov-file.h b/src/ov-file.h
--- a/src/ov-file.h
+++ b/src/ov-file.h
@@ -35,6 +35,7 @@
 #include "oct-alloc.h"
 #include "oct-stream.h"
 #include "ov-base.h"
+#include "ov-scalar.h"
 #include "ov-typeinfo.h"
 
 class tree_walker;
@@ -61,7 +62,10 @@
   ~octave_file (void) { }
 
   octave_value *clone (void) const { return new octave_file (*this); }
-  octave_value *empty_clone (void) const { return new octave_file (); }
+
+  // For compatibility, a file object should appear as if it is a
+  // scalar object, in contexts where that is needed.
+  octave_value *empty_clone (void) const { return new octave_scalar (); }
 
   type_conv_fcn numeric_conversion_function (void) const;