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GNU Octave

11.6 Function Files

Except for simple one-shot programs, it is not practical to have to define all the functions you need each time you need them. Instead, you will normally want to save them in a file so that you can easily edit them, and save them for use at a later time.

Octave does not require you to load function definitions from files before using them. You simply need to put the function definitions in a place where Octave can find them.

When Octave encounters an identifier that is undefined, it first looks for variables or functions that are already compiled and currently listed in its symbol table. If it fails to find a definition there, it searches the list of directories specified by the built-in variable LOADPATH for files ending in `.m' that have the same base name as the undefined identifier.(4) Once Octave finds a file with a name that matches, the contents of the file are read. If it defines a single function, it is compiled and executed. See section 11.7 Script Files, for more information about how you can define more than one function in a single file.

When Octave defines a function from a function file, it saves the full name of the file it read and the time stamp on the file. After that, it checks the time stamp on the file every time it needs the function. If the time stamp indicates that the file has changed since the last time it was read, Octave reads it again.

Checking the time stamp allows you to edit the definition of a function while Octave is running, and automatically use the new function definition without having to restart your Octave session. Checking the time stamp every time a function is used is rather inefficient, but it has to be done to ensure that the correct function definition is used.

To avoid degrading performance unnecessarily by checking the time stamps on functions that are not likely to change, Octave assumes that function files in the directory tree `octave-home/share/octave/version/m' will not change, so it doesn't have to check their time stamps every time the functions defined in those files are used. This is normally a very good assumption and provides a significant improvement in performance for the function files that are distributed with Octave.

If you know that your own function files will not change while you are running Octave, you can improve performance by setting the variable ignore_function_time_stamp to "all", so that Octave will ignore the time stamps for all function files. Setting it to "system" gives the default behavior. If you set it to anything else, Octave will check the time stamps on all function files.

Built-in Variable: DEFAULT_LOADPATH

A colon separated list of directories in which to search for function files by default. The value of this variable is also automatically substituted for leading, trailing, or doubled colons that appear in the built-in variable LOADPATH.

Built-in Variable: LOADPATH

A colon separated list of directories in which to search for function files. See section 11. Functions and Script Files. The value of LOADPATH overrides the environment variable OCTAVE_PATH. See section C. Installing Octave.

LOADPATH is now handled in the same way as TeX handles TEXINPUTS. Leading, trailing, or doubled colons that appear in LOADPATH are replaced by the value of DEFAULT_LOADPATH. The default value of LOADPATH is ":", which tells Octave to search in the directories specified by DEFAULT_LOADPATH.

In addition, if any path element ends in `//', that directory and all subdirectories it contains are searched recursively for function files. This can result in a slight delay as Octave caches the lists of files found in the LOADPATH the first time Octave searches for a function. After that, searching is usually much faster because Octave normally only needs to search its internal cache for files.

To improve performance of recursive directory searching, it is best for each directory that is to be searched recursively to contain either additional subdirectories or function files, but not a mixture of both.

See section 11.9 Organization of Functions Distributed with Octave for a description of the function file directories that are distributed with Octave.

Built-in Variable: ignore_function_time_stamp

This variable can be used to prevent Octave from making the system call stat each time it looks up functions defined in function files. If ignore_function_time_stamp to "system", Octave will not automatically recompile function files in subdirectories of `octave-home/lib/version' if they have changed since they were last compiled, but will recompile other function files in the LOADPATH if they change. If set to "all", Octave will not recompile any function files unless their definitions are removed with clear. For any other value of ignore_function_time_stamp, Octave will always check to see if functions defined in function files need to recompiled. The default value of ignore_function_time_stamp is "system".

Built-in Variable: warn_function_name_clash

If the value of warn_function_name_clash is nonzero, a warning is issued when Octave finds that the name of a function defined in a function file differs from the name of the file. (If the names disagree, the name declared inside the file is ignored.) If the value is 0, the warning is omitted. The default value is 1.