[changeset] make str2mat an alias of char

[dbateman at fladenmuller.org]

On Sat, Nov 29, 2008 at 11:56:23PM +0100, Thorsten Meyer wrote:
> Hi,
> 
> attached is a changeset that removes the str2mat.m function file and makes str2mat an alias of char.
> The two functions do the same as far as I can see. Only the internal char function is of course much
> faster than the str2mat.m function file. To me, it looks like str2mat is a leftover from a time
> when char() was less permissive with respect to its input arguments.
> 
> regards
> 
> Thorsten


Looking at 

http://www.mathworks.com/access/helpdesk/help/techdoc/ref/str2mat.html

it seems that str2mat is considered as obselete. I'd therefore be 
inclined to move str2mat to scripts/deprecated but written as something
like

function varargout = str2mat (varargin)
  persistent warned = false;
  if (! warned)
    warned = true;
    warning ("Octave:deprecated-function",
             "str2mat is obsolete and will be removed from a future 
version of Octave; please use char instead");
  endif

  varargout = cell (nargout, 1);
  [ varargout{:} ] = char (varargin{:});

endfunction


Cheers
David