[Octave-bug-tracker] [bug #37521] clear('functions') deletes subfunctions

[Philip Nienhuis]

Update of bug #37521 (project octave):

                  Status:               Need Info => Invalid                

    _______________________________________________________

Follow-up Comment #5:

Thanks for your clarification - I misunderstood, sorry. But it doesn't help
your case.

You say: "The expected behavior for clear('functions') is for it to clear
persistent variables of every function."

But ML docs (http://www.mathworks.nl/help/matlab/ref/clear.html) clearly state
that "clear" (and not "clear('functions')" in a function reinitializes (and
not "clears") persistent variables (no pun intended).
(Furthermore, given the context in the relevant stanza I would read that as
"...<persistent variables> in that function". The ML docs are -as is often the
case- ambiguous.)

More specifically, the ML docs do NOT explicitly specify what the effect of
"clear('functions')" is supposed to be when invoked from within a function.

The behavior you see may be caused by unintended locking of a subfunction name
symbol in the course of parsing the function file, perhaps it's even a ML bug,
who knows.
Lacking an unambiguous description in the ML docs, this is simply called
"undocumented behavior" and there's little chance this will be explicitly
mimicked in Octave.

If you find ML docs stating what "clear('functions')" within a function does,
this bug can be reopened.


    _______________________________________________________

Reply to this item at:

  <http://savannah.gnu.org/bugs/?37521>

_______________________________________________
  Message sent via/by Savannah
  http://savannah.gnu.org/