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Function List:

C++ API

: edit name
: edit field value
: value = edit ("get", field)
: value = edit ("get", "all")

Edit the named function, or change editor settings.

If edit is called with the name of a file or function as its argument it will be opened in the text editor defined by EDITOR.

  • If the function name is available in a file on your path and that file is modifiable, then it will be edited in place. If it is a system function, then it will first be copied to the directory HOME (see below) and then edited. If no file is found, then the m-file variant, ending with ".m", will be considered. If still no file is found, then variants with a leading "@" and then with both a leading "@" and trailing ".m" will be considered.
  • If name is the name of a function defined in the interpreter but not in an m-file, then an m-file will be created in HOME to contain that function along with its current definition.
  • If name.cc is specified, then it will search for name.cc in the path and try to modify it, otherwise it will create a new .cc file in the current directory. If name happens to be an m-file or interpreter defined function, then the text of that function will be inserted into the .cc file as a comment.
  • If name.ext is on your path then it will be edited, otherwise the editor will be started with name.ext in the current directory as the filename. If name.ext is not modifiable, it will be copied to HOME before editing.

    Warning: You may need to clear name before the new definition is available. If you are editing a .cc file, you will need to execute mkoctfile name.cc before the definition will be available.

If edit is called with field and value variables, the value of the control field field will be set to value.

If an output argument is requested and the first input argument is get then edit will return the value of the control field field. If the control field does not exist, edit will return a structure containing all fields and values. Thus, edit ("get", "all") returns a complete control structure.

The following control fields are used:

‘home’

This is the location of user local m-files. Be sure it is in your path. The default is ~/octave.

‘author’

This is the name to put after the "## Author:" field of new functions. By default it guesses from the gecos field of the password database.

‘email’

This is the e-mail address to list after the name in the author field. By default it guesses <$LOGNAME@$HOSTNAME>, and if $HOSTNAME is not defined it uses uname -n. You probably want to override this. Be sure to use the format user@host.

‘license’
‘gpl’

GNU General Public License (default).

‘bsd’

BSD-style license without advertising clause.

‘pd’

Public domain.

‘"text"’

Your own default copyright and license.

Unless you specify ‘pd’, edit will prepend the copyright statement with "Copyright (C) YYYY Author".

‘mode’

This value determines whether the editor should be started in async mode (editor is started in the background and Octave continues) or sync mode (Octave waits until the editor exits). Set it to "sync" to start the editor in sync mode. The default is "async" (see ‘system’).

‘editinplace’

Determines whether files should be edited in place, without regard to whether they are modifiable or not. The default is false.

Package: octave