Research Computing Environment Using Statistical Programs Working With Octave
Working With Octave

Working With Octave

This section describes basic activities that you perform in the Octave statistical application as it is implemented in the RCE. It includes information about how to perform the following:

  • Launch and exit from the menus and from the command prompt
  • Access help
  • Install new components

See Implementation Details for general information about the implementation of Octave in the RCE, including where to find out more about the tool.

For information about how to access the RCE, refer to Connecting to the RCE Summer 2009.

Launching and Exiting Octave

Launching and Exiting Octave

You can launch Octave in the RCE by using the menus or by typing a command.

Launching Octave

To launch Octave by using the menus in the RCE, select the Applications menu Mathematics submenu, and then choose Octave to launch the tool.

A terminal window is opened and the launch command for Octave executes automatically.

To launch Octave from the CLI, open a terminal window and type the command octave at the prompt.

Exiting Octave

To exit Octave, type quit or exit.

Accessing Built-in Help in Octave

Accessing Built-in Help in Octave

To access the built-in Help system in Octave, type help.

To view help in a separate, text-based browser window, type doc or doc <function name>.

To view information about a specific command, type help <command>.

To page through the Help contents, type f to page forward, or type b to page backward.

To exit the Help window, type q.

For example:

octave:15> help

Help is available for the topics listed below.

Additional help for built-in functions, operators, and variables
is available in the on-line version of the manual. Use the command
'help -i <topic>' to search the manual index.

Help and information about Octave is also available on the WWW
at http://www.octave.org and via the help-octave@bevo.che.wisc.edu
mailing list.

*** operators:

! # &&)+-.*.^;<>>\|~=
!=% '*++--.**/<=>=]||
"&(**,.'./:<===[^~

-- less -- (f)orward, (b)ack, (q)uit
Listing and Installing Functions in Octave

Listing and Installing Functions in Octave

In Octave, you can import new functions and programs, as well as new data files.

Listing Functions Available in Octave

Listing Functions Available in Octave

In the Octave window, type help and page through the Help content to list the functions available in Octave. For example:

octave:18> help
...
*** operators: ...
*** reserved words: ...
*** built-in constants: ...
*** built-in variables: ...
*** commands: ...
*** mapper functions: ...
*** general functions: ...
*** function files in /usr/libexec/octave/2.1.57/oct/i686-pc-linus-gnu/: ...
*** function files in /usr/share/octave/2.1.57/m/io/: ...
*** function files in /usr/share/octave/2.1.57/m/audio/: ...
*** function files in /usr/share/octave/2.1.57/m/quaternion/: ...
*** function files in /usr/share/octave/2.1.57/m/elfun/: ...
*** function files in /usr/share/octave/2.1.57/m/miscellaneous/: 
...

You can view the contents of the Octave installation directory in a terminal window. Type the following command:

> ls /usr/share/octave/2.1.57/m
audiofinance linear-algebraquaternionspecial-matrix time
control general miscellaneous set startup
deprecatedimage plot signal statistics
elfun io polynomial specfun strings 
>

To view the contents of a specific type of installed Octave function, use the ls command to list the contents of a subdirectory. For example, to view the installed finance functions, type the following:

> ls /usr/share/octave/2.1.57/m/finance
fvl.m fv.m irr.m nper.m npv.m pmt.m pvl.m pv.m rate.m vol.m
>
Installing Octave Functions

Installing Octave Functions

Code for new Octave functions are added to the default installation directory:

/usr/share/octave/2.1.57/m

As an alternative, code can be added to a new directory. In this case, you must change the search path to include the path for the new code by using the following command:

octave:23> path(path,"<new directory path>")

If you locate an additional function for Octave that is not available in the RCE, contact us and request that we install that function for you.

Locating Octave Directories

Locating Octave Directories

The default installation directory for Octave libraries is:

/usr/share/octave/2.1.57/m

The default location in which Octave searches for files or to which it saves files is the directory from which you launch the Octave tool. In the RCE, that directory is:

/nfs/fs1/home/<First Initial>/<login account username>

To view the directories in which Octave searches for functions, type the following command:

octave:3> path

Octave's search path contains the following directories:

.
/usr/libexec/octave/2.1.57/site/oct/i686-pc-linux-gnu//
/usr/libexec/octave/site/oct/api-v8/i686-pc-linux-gnu//
/usr/libexec/octave/site/oct/i686-pc-linux-gnu//
/usr/share/octave/2.1.57/site/m//
/usr/share/octave/site/api-v8/m//
/usr/share/octave/site/m//
/usr/libexec/octave/2.1.57/oct/i686-pc-linux-gnu//
/usr/share/octave/2.1.57/m//
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