<html lang="en"> <head> <title>A Sample Variable Description - GNU Octave</title> <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html"> <meta name="description" content="GNU Octave"> <meta name="generator" content="makeinfo 4.13"> <link title="Top" rel="start" href="index.html#Top"> <link rel="up" href="Format-of-Descriptions.html#Format-of-Descriptions" title="Format of Descriptions"> <link rel="prev" href="A-Sample-Command-Description.html#A-Sample-Command-Description" title="A Sample Command Description"> <link href="http://www.gnu.org/software/texinfo/" rel="generator-home" title="Texinfo Homepage"> <meta http-equiv="Content-Style-Type" content="text/css"> <style type="text/css"><!-- pre.display { font-family:inherit } pre.format { font-family:inherit } pre.smalldisplay { font-family:inherit; font-size:smaller } pre.smallformat { font-family:inherit; font-size:smaller } pre.smallexample { font-size:smaller } pre.smalllisp { font-size:smaller } span.sc { font-variant:small-caps } span.roman { font-family:serif; font-weight:normal; } span.sansserif { font-family:sans-serif; font-weight:normal; } --></style> </head> <body> <div class="node"> <a name="A-Sample-Variable-Description"></a> <p> Previous: <a rel="previous" accesskey="p" href="A-Sample-Command-Description.html#A-Sample-Command-Description">A Sample Command Description</a>, Up: <a rel="up" accesskey="u" href="Format-of-Descriptions.html#Format-of-Descriptions">Format of Descriptions</a> <hr> </div> <h5 class="subsubsection">1.3.5.3 A Sample Variable Description</h5> <p><a name="index-variable-descriptions-27"></a> A <dfn>variable</dfn> is a name that can hold a value. Although any variable can be set by the user, <dfn>built-in variables</dfn> typically exist specifically so that users can change them to alter the way Octave behaves (built-in variables are also sometimes called <dfn>user options</dfn>). Ordinary variables and built-in variables are described using a format like that for functions except that there are no arguments. <p>Here is a description of the imaginary variable <code>do_what_i_mean_not_what_i_say</code>. <div class="defun"> — Built-in Variable: <b>do_what_i_mean_not_what_i_say</b><var><a name="index-do_005fwhat_005fi_005fmean_005fnot_005fwhat_005fi_005fsay-28"></a></var><br> <blockquote><p>If the value of this variable is nonzero, Octave will do what you actually wanted, even if you have typed a completely different and meaningless list of commands. </p></blockquote></div> <p>Other variable descriptions have the same format, but `Built-in Variable' is replaced by `Variable', for ordinary variables, or `Constant' for symbolic constants whose values cannot be changed. <!-- DO NOT EDIT! Generated automatically by munge-texi.pl. --> <!-- Copyright (C) 1996-2012 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 3 of the License, 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, see --> <!-- <http://www.gnu.org/licenses/>. --> </body></html>