octave: Command Line Options
2.1.1 Command Line Options
--------------------------
Here is a complete list of the command line options that Octave accepts.
‘--built-in-docstrings-file FILENAME’
Specify the name of the file containing documentation strings for
the built-in functions of Octave. This value is normally correct
and should only need to specified in extraordinary situations.
‘--debug’
‘-d’
Enter parser debugging mode. Using this option will cause Octave’s
parser to print a lot of information about the commands it reads,
and is probably only useful if you are actually trying to debug the
parser.
‘--debug-jit’
Enable JIT compiler debugging and tracing.
‘--doc-cache-file FILENAME’
Specify the name of the doc cache file to use. The value of
FILENAME specified on the command line will override any value of
‘OCTAVE_DOC_CACHE_FILE’ found in the environment, but not any
commands in the system or user startup files that use the
‘doc_cache_file’ function.
‘--echo-commands’
‘-x’
Echo commands as they are executed.
‘--eval CODE’
Evaluate CODE and exit when finished unless ‘--persist’ is also
specified.
‘--exec-path PATH’
Specify the path to search for programs to run. The value of PATH
specified on the command line will override any value of
‘OCTAVE_EXEC_PATH’ found in the environment, but not any commands
in the system or user startup files that set the built-in variable
‘EXEC_PATH’.
‘--force-gui’
Force the graphical user interface (GUI) to start.
‘--help’
‘-h’
‘-?’
Print short help message and exit.
‘--image-path PATH’
Add path to the head of the search path for images. The value of
PATH specified on the command line will override any value of
‘OCTAVE_IMAGE_PATH’ found in the environment, but not any commands
in the system or user startup files that set the built-in variable
‘IMAGE_PATH’.
‘--info-file FILENAME’
Specify the name of the info file to use. The value of FILENAME
specified on the command line will override any value of
‘OCTAVE_INFO_FILE’ found in the environment, but not any commands
in the system or user startup files that use the ‘info_file’
function.
‘--info-program PROGRAM’
Specify the name of the info program to use. The value of PROGRAM
specified on the command line will override any value of
‘OCTAVE_INFO_PROGRAM’ found in the environment, but not any
commands in the system or user startup files that use the
‘info_program’ function.
‘--interactive’
‘-i’
Force interactive behavior. This can be useful for running Octave
via a remote shell command or inside an Emacs shell buffer.
‘--jit-compiler’
Enable the JIT compiler used for accelerating loops.
‘--line-editing’
Force readline use for command-line editing.
‘--no-gui’
Disable the graphical user interface (GUI) and use the command line
interface (CLI) instead.
‘--no-history’
‘-H’
Disable recording of command-line history.
‘--no-init-file’
Don’t read the initialization files ‘~/.octaverc’ and ‘.octaverc’.
‘--no-init-path’
Don’t initialize the search path for function files to include
default locations.
‘--no-line-editing’
Disable command-line editing.
‘--no-site-file’
Don’t read the site-wide ‘octaverc’ initialization files.
‘--no-window-system’
‘-W’
Disable use of a windowing system including graphics. This forces
a strictly terminal-only environment.
‘--norc’
‘-f’
Don’t read any of the system or user initialization files at
startup. This is equivalent to using both of the options
‘--no-init-file’ and ‘--no-site-file’.
‘--path PATH’
‘-p PATH’
Add path to the head of the search path for function files. The
value of PATH specified on the command line will override any value
of ‘OCTAVE_PATH’ found in the environment, but not any commands in
the system or user startup files that set the internal load path
through one of the path functions.
‘--persist’
Go to interactive mode after ‘--eval’ or reading from a file named
on the command line.
‘--silent’
‘--quiet’
‘-q’
Don’t print the usual greeting and version message at startup.
‘--texi-macros-file FILENAME’
Specify the name of the file containing Texinfo macros for use by
makeinfo.
‘--traditional’
‘--braindead’
For compatibility with MATLAB, set initial values for user
preferences to the following values
PS1 = ">> "
PS2 = ""
beep_on_error = true
confirm_recursive_rmdir = false
crash_dumps_octave_core = false
disable_diagonal_matrix = true
disable_permutation_matrix = true
disable_range = true
fixed_point_format = true
history_timestamp_format_string = "%%-- %D %I:%M %p --%%"
page_screen_output = false
print_empty_dimensions = false
save_default_options = "-mat-binary"
struct_levels_to_print = 0
and disable the following warnings
Octave:abbreviated-property-match
Octave:fopen-file-in-path
Octave:function-name-clash
Octave:load-file-in-path
Octave:possible-matlab-short-circuit-operator
Note that this does not enable the ‘Octave:language-extension’
warning, which you might want if you want to be told about writing
code that works in Octave but not MATLAB (
warning
XREFwarning, warning_ids XREFwarning_ids.).
‘--verbose’
‘-V’
Turn on verbose output.
‘--version’
‘-v’
Print the program version number and exit.
‘FILE’
Execute commands from FILE. Exit when done unless ‘--persist’ is
also specified.
Octave also includes several functions which return information about
the command line, including the number of arguments and all of the
options.
-- : argv ()
Return the command line arguments passed to Octave.
For example, if you invoked Octave using the command
octave --no-line-editing --silent
‘argv’ would return a cell array of strings with the elements
‘--no-line-editing’ and ‘--silent’.
If you write an executable Octave script, ‘argv’ will return the
list of arguments passed to the script. Executable Octave
Programs, for an example of how to create an executable Octave
script.
-- : program_name ()
Return the last component of the value returned by
‘program_invocation_name’.
See also: program_invocation_name
XREFprogram_invocation_name.
-- : program_invocation_name ()
Return the name that was typed at the shell prompt to run Octave.
If executing a script from the command line (e.g., ‘octave foo.m’)
or using an executable Octave script, the program name is set to
the name of the script. Executable Octave Programs, for an
example of how to create an executable Octave script.
See also: program_name XREFprogram_name.
Here is an example of using these functions to reproduce the command
line which invoked Octave.
printf ("%s", program_name ());
arg_list = argv ();
for i = 1:nargin
printf (" %s", arg_list{i});
endfor
printf ("\n");
Indexing Cell Arrays, for an explanation of how to retrieve
objects from cell arrays, and Defining Functions, for
information about the variable ‘nargin’.
Info Catalog
octave: Invoking Octave from the Command Line
octave: Startup Files