<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/html4/loose.dtd"> <html> <!-- Created by GNU Texinfo 6.5, http://www.gnu.org/software/texinfo/ --> <head> <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"> <title>A Sample Command Description (GNU Octave (version 5.1.0))</title> <meta name="description" content="A Sample Command Description (GNU Octave (version 5.1.0))"> <meta name="keywords" content="A Sample Command Description (GNU Octave (version 5.1.0))"> <meta name="resource-type" content="document"> <meta name="distribution" content="global"> <meta name="Generator" content="makeinfo"> <link href="index.html#Top" rel="start" title="Top"> <link href="Concept-Index.html#Concept-Index" rel="index" title="Concept Index"> <link href="index.html#SEC_Contents" rel="contents" title="Table of Contents"> <link href="Format-of-Descriptions.html#Format-of-Descriptions" rel="up" title="Format of Descriptions"> <link href="Getting-Started.html#Getting-Started" rel="next" title="Getting Started"> <link href="A-Sample-Function-Description.html#A-Sample-Function-Description" rel="prev" title="A Sample Function Description"> <style type="text/css"> <!-- a.summary-letter {text-decoration: none} blockquote.indentedblock {margin-right: 0em} blockquote.smallindentedblock {margin-right: 0em; font-size: smaller} blockquote.smallquotation {font-size: smaller} div.display {margin-left: 3.2em} div.example {margin-left: 3.2em} div.lisp {margin-left: 3.2em} div.smalldisplay {margin-left: 3.2em} div.smallexample {margin-left: 3.2em} div.smalllisp {margin-left: 3.2em} kbd {font-style: oblique} pre.display {font-family: inherit} pre.format {font-family: inherit} pre.menu-comment {font-family: serif} pre.menu-preformatted {font-family: serif} pre.smalldisplay {font-family: inherit; font-size: smaller} pre.smallexample {font-size: smaller} pre.smallformat {font-family: inherit; font-size: smaller} pre.smalllisp {font-size: smaller} span.nolinebreak {white-space: nowrap} span.roman {font-family: initial; font-weight: normal} span.sansserif {font-family: sans-serif; font-weight: normal} ul.no-bullet {list-style: none} --> </style> <link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="octave.css"> </head> <body lang="en"> <a name="A-Sample-Command-Description"></a> <div class="header"> <p> Previous: <a href="A-Sample-Function-Description.html#A-Sample-Function-Description" accesskey="p" rel="prev">A Sample Function Description</a>, Up: <a href="Format-of-Descriptions.html#Format-of-Descriptions" accesskey="u" rel="up">Format of Descriptions</a> [<a href="index.html#SEC_Contents" title="Table of contents" rel="contents">Contents</a>][<a href="Concept-Index.html#Concept-Index" title="Index" rel="index">Index</a>]</p> </div> <hr> <a name="A-Sample-Command-Description-1"></a> <h4 class="subsubsection">1.3.5.2 A Sample Command Description</h4> <a name="index-command-descriptions"></a> <p>Commands are functions that may be called without surrounding their arguments in parentheses. Command descriptions have a format similar to function descriptions. For example, here is the description for Octave’s <code>diary</code> command: </p> <dl> <dt><a name="index-diary"></a><em></em> <strong>diary</strong></dt> <dt><a name="index-diary-1"></a><em></em> <strong>diary</strong> <em>on</em></dt> <dt><a name="index-diary-2"></a><em></em> <strong>diary</strong> <em>off</em></dt> <dt><a name="index-diary-3"></a><em></em> <strong>diary</strong> <em><var>filename</var></em></dt> <dt><a name="index-diary-4"></a><em>[<var>status</var>, <var>diaryfile</var>] =</em> <strong>diary</strong></dt> <dd><p>Record a list of all commands <em>and</em> the output they produce, mixed together just as they appear on the terminal. </p> <p>Valid options are: </p> <dl compact="compact"> <dt>on</dt> <dd><p>Start recording a session in a file called <samp>diary</samp> in the current working directory. </p> </dd> <dt>off</dt> <dd><p>Stop recording the session in the diary file. </p> </dd> <dt><var>filename</var></dt> <dd><p>Record the session in the file named <var>filename</var>. </p></dd> </dl> <p>With no input or output arguments, <code>diary</code> toggles the current diary state. </p> <p>If output arguments are requested, <code>diary</code> ignores inputs and returns the current status. The boolean <var>status</var> indicates whether recording is on or off, and <var>diaryfile</var> is the name of the file where the session is stored. </p> <p><strong>See also:</strong> history, evalc. </p></dd></dl> </body> </html>