12.2.2 Enabling and Disabling Warnings

The warning function also allows you to control which warnings are actually printed to the screen. If the warning function is called with a string argument that is either "on" or "off" all warnings will be enabled or disabled.

It is also possible to enable and disable individual warnings through their string identifications. The following code will issue a warning

warning ("example:non-negative-variable", 
         "'a' must be non-negative.  Setting 'a' to zero.");

while the following won’t issue a warning

warning ("off", "example:non-negative-variable");
warning ("example:non-negative-variable", 
         "'a' must be non-negative.  Setting 'a' to zero.");

The functions distributed with Octave can issue one of the following warnings.

Octave:abbreviated-property-match

By default, the Octave:abbreviated-property-match warning is enabled.

Octave:array-to-scalar

If the Octave:array-to-scalar warning is enabled, Octave will warn when an implicit conversion from an array to a scalar value is attempted. By default, the Octave:array-to-scalar warning is disabled.

Octave:array-to-vector

If the Octave:array-to-vector warning is enabled, Octave will warn when an implicit conversion from an array to a vector value is attempted. By default, the Octave:array-to-vector warning is disabled.

Octave:assign-as-truth-value

If the Octave:assign-as-truth-value warning is enabled, a warning is issued for statements like

if (s = t)
  …

since such statements are not common, and it is likely that the intent was to write

if (s == t)
  …

instead.

There are times when it is useful to write code that contains assignments within the condition of a while or if statement. For example, statements like

while (c = getc ())
  …

are common in C programming.

It is possible to avoid all warnings about such statements by disabling the Octave:assign-as-truth-value warning, but that may also let real errors like

if (x = 1)  # intended to test (x == 1)!
  …

slip by.

In such cases, it is possible suppress errors for specific statements by writing them with an extra set of parentheses. For example, writing the previous example as

while ((c = getc ()))
  …

will prevent the warning from being printed for this statement, while allowing Octave to warn about other assignments used in conditional contexts.

By default, the Octave:assign-as-truth-value warning is enabled.

Octave:associativity-change

If the Octave:associativity-change warning is enabled, Octave will warn about possible changes in the meaning of some code due to changes in associativity for some operators. Associativity changes have typically been made for MATLAB compatibility. By default, the Octave:associativity-change warning is enabled.

Octave:autoload-relative-file-name

If the Octave:autoload-relative-file-name is enabled, Octave will warn when parsing autoload() function calls with relative paths to function files. This usually happens when using autoload() calls in PKG_ADD files, when the PKG_ADD file is not in the same directory as the .oct file referred to by the autoload() command. By default, the Octave:autoload-relative-file-name warning is enabled.

Octave:broadcast

Warn when performing broadcasting operations. By default, this is enabled. See Broadcasting in the chapter Vectorization and Faster Code Execution of the manual.

Octave:built-in-variable-assignment

By default, the Octave:built-in-variable-assignment warning is enabled.

Octave:divide-by-zero

If the Octave:divide-by-zero warning is enabled, a warning is issued when Octave encounters a division by zero. By default, the Octave:divide-by-zero warning is enabled.

Octave:fopen-file-in-path

By default, the Octave:fopen-file-in-path warning is enabled.

Octave:function-name-clash

If the Octave:function-name-clash warning is enabled, a warning is issued when Octave finds that the name of a function defined in a function file differs from the name of the file. (If the names disagree, the name declared inside the file is ignored.) By default, the Octave:function-name-clash warning is enabled.

Octave:future-time-stamp

If the Octave:future-time-stamp warning is enabled, Octave will print a warning if it finds a function file with a time stamp that is in the future. By default, the Octave:future-time-stamp warning is enabled.

Octave:glyph-render

By default, the Octave:glyph-render warning is enabled.

Octave:imag-to-real

If the Octave:imag-to-real warning is enabled, a warning is printed for implicit conversions of complex numbers to real numbers. By default, the Octave:imag-to-real warning is disabled.

Octave:load-file-in-path

By default, the Octave:load-file-in-path warning is enabled.

Octave:logical-conversion

By default, the Octave:logical-conversion warning is enabled.

Octave:matlab-incompatible

Print warnings for Octave language features that may cause compatibility problems with MATLAB. By default, the Octave:matlab-incompatible warning is disabled.

Octave:md5sum-file-in-path

By default, the Octave:md5sum-file-in-path warning is enabled.

Octave:missing-glyph

By default, the Octave:missing-glyph warning is enabled.

Octave:missing-semicolon

If the Octave:missing-semicolon warning is enabled, Octave will warn when statements in function definitions don’t end in semicolons. By default the Octave:missing-semicolon warning is disabled.

Octave:mixed-string-concat

If the Octave:mixed-string-concat warning is enabled, print a warning when concatenating a mixture of double and single quoted strings. By default, the Octave:mixed-string-concat warning is disabled.

Octave:neg-dim-as-zero

If the Octave:neg-dim-as-zero warning is enabled, print a warning for expressions like

eye (-1)

By default, the Octave:neg-dim-as-zero warning is disabled.

Octave:nested-functions-coerced

By default, the Octave:nested-functions-coerced warning is enabled.

Octave:noninteger-range-as-index

By default, the Octave:noninteger-range-as-index warning is enabled.

Octave:num-to-str

If the Octave:num-to-str warning is enable, a warning is printed for implicit conversions of numbers to their ASCII character equivalents when strings are constructed using a mixture of strings and numbers in matrix notation. For example,

[ "f", 111, 111 ]
⇒ "foo"

elicits a warning if the Octave:num-to-str warning is enabled. By default, the Octave:num-to-str warning is enabled.

Octave:possible-matlab-short-circuit-operator

If the Octave:possible-matlab-short-circuit-operator warning is enabled, Octave will warn about using the not short circuiting operators & and | inside if or while conditions. They normally never short circuit, but MATLAB always short circuits if any logical operators are used in a condition. You can turn on the option

do_braindead_shortcircuit_evaluation (1)

if you would like to enable this short-circuit evaluation in Octave. Note that the && and || operators always short circuit in both Octave and MATLAB, so it’s only necessary to enable MATLAB-style short-circuiting it’s too arduous to modify existing code that relies on this behavior. By default, the Octave:possible-matlab-short-circuit-operator warning is enabled.

Octave:precedence-change

If the Octave:precedence-change warning is enabled, Octave will warn about possible changes in the meaning of some code due to changes in precedence for some operators. Precedence changes have typically been made for MATLAB compatibility. By default, the Octave:precedence-change warning is enabled.

Octave:recursive-path-search

By default, the Octave:recursive-path-search warning is enabled.

Octave:reload-forces-clear

If several functions have been loaded from the same file, Octave must clear all the functions before any one of them can be reloaded. If the Octave:reload-forces-clear warning is enabled, Octave will warn you when this happens, and print a list of the additional functions that it is forced to clear. By default, the Octave:reload-forces-clear warning is enabled.

Octave:resize-on-range-error

If the Octave:resize-on-range-error warning is enabled, print a warning when a matrix is resized by an indexed assignment with indices outside the current bounds. By default, the ## Octave:resize-on-range-error warning is disabled.

Octave:separator-insert

Print warning if commas or semicolons might be inserted automatically in literal matrices. By default, the Octave:separator-insert warning is disabled.

Octave:shadowed-function

By default, the Octave:shadowed-function warning is enabled.

Octave:single-quote-string

Print warning if a single quote character is used to introduce a string constant. By default, the Octave:single-quote-string warning is disabled.

Octave:singular-matrix-div

By default, the Octave:singular-matrix-div warning is enabled.

Octave:sqrtm:SingularMatrix

By default, the Octave:sqrtm:SingularMatrix warning is enabled.

Octave:str-to-num

If the Octave:str-to-num warning is enabled, a warning is printed for implicit conversions of strings to their numeric ASCII equivalents. For example,

"abc" + 0
⇒ 97 98 99

elicits a warning if the Octave:str-to-num warning is enabled. By default, the Octave:str-to-num warning is disabled.

Octave:undefined-return-values

If the Octave:undefined-return-values warning is disabled, print a warning if a function does not define all the values in the return list which are expected. By default, the Octave:undefined-return-values warning is enabled.

Octave:variable-switch-label

If the Octave:variable-switch-label warning is enabled, Octave will print a warning if a switch label is not a constant or constant expression. By default, the Octave:variable-switch-label warning is disabled.