migrating from Matlab to Octave 20080513 - cd

As a new Octave user, I found the following issues (somewhat trivial) in migrating my Matlab code to Octave.  Thanks  - DjK.

 

Issue

1.)    A return value for ‘cd’ is not allowed in Octave as it is for Matlab, and,

2.)    The required function (‘pwd’) is not cross-referenced in the help documentation for ‘cd’.

Explanation

   In MATLAB I used the ‘cd’ function to return the pwd info. Octave does not allow this.

Proposed Interim Solution

   Add ‘pwd’ to list of cross-referenced keywords under “See also:” in all help documentation for the functions: ‘cd’ ‘mkdir’ ‘rmdir’ ‘dir’ ‘readdir’

   ‘isdir’ ‘what’ ‘which’ ‘exist’ and ‘ls’. Additionally, it’d be useful if these functions all had the same cross-reference list in their respective help file.

Proposed Long-Term Solution

   Change ‘cd’ command to a function and allow it to return the current directory info for compatibility with Matlab.

 

For instance, before explicitly changing the working directory, I’d record the current directory info so it could be restored when

I finished. Using the same command for all 3 lines makes the code a little easier to learn (less to look up).

  CurrentDirectory = cd;

  cd(PROGRAM_PATH);

  …

  cd(CurrentDirectory);

 

 

http://www.mathworks.com/access/helpdesk/help/techdoc/index.html?/access/helpdesk/help/techdoc/ref/f16-6011.html

MATLAB Function Reference

cd - Change working directory

Syntax

cd

w = cd

cd('directory')

cd('..')

cd directory

Description

 

cd displays the current working directory.

w = cd assigns the current working directory to w.

cd('directory') sets the current working directory to directory. Use the full pathname for directory. On UNIX® platforms, the character ~ is interpreted as the user's root directory.

cd('..') changes the current working directory to the directory above it.

cd directory or cd .. is the unquoted form of the syntax.

Examples

 

On UNIX platforms,

cd('/usr/local/matlab/toolbox/control/ctrldemos')

changes the current working directory to ctrldemos for the Control System Toolbox.

 

On Windows® platforms,

cd('c:/matlab/toolbox/control/ctrldemos')

changes the current working directory to ctrldemos for the Control System Toolbox. Then typing

cd ..

changes the current working directory to control, and typing

cd ..

again, changes the current working directory to toolbox.

 

On any platform, use cd with the matlabroot function to change to a directory relative to the directory in which MATLAB is installed. For example

cd([matlabroot '/toolbox/control/ctrldemos'])

changes the current working directory to ctrldemos for the Control System Toolbox.

 

See Also

dir, fileparts, mfilename, path, pwd, wha