From help-octave-request  Thu May 27 14:35:13 1993
Subject: Re: How can I execute an external command from octave? 
From: John Eaton <jwe>
To: che6yoh at sun dot leeds dot ac dot uk
Cc: help-octave
Date: Thu, 27 May 93 14:35:08 EDT

: I misunderstood I could use "!" as shell escape.

In Octave, `!' is used as another operator for logical negation.

: Is there anyway in which external commands can be executed from
: octave? 

You can use the function `shell_cmd'.  The first argument is a string
containing the command to execute.  If you specify a second argument,
shell_cmd will return the output of the command in a string.

--
John W. Eaton      | The exam demonstrates a comminuted, slightly overlapping
jwe at che dot utexas dot edu|  | angulated fracture of the midfifth metatarsal.