--- /dev/null
+## Copyright (C) 2000-2012 Paul Kienzle
+##
+## This file is part of Octave.
+##
+## Octave is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it
+## under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by
+## the Free Software Foundation; either version 3 of the License, or (at
+## your option) any later version.
+##
+## Octave is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but
+## WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
+## MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the GNU
+## General Public License for more details.
+##
+## You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
+## along with Octave; see the file COPYING. If not, see
+## <http://www.gnu.org/licenses/>.
+
+## -*- texinfo -*-
+## @deftypefn {Function File} {} primes (@var{n})
+##
+## Return all primes up to @var{n}.
+##
+## The algorithm used is the Sieve of Eratosthenes.
+##
+## Note that if you need a specific number of primes you can use the
+## fact that the distance from one prime to the next is, on average,
+## proportional to the logarithm of the prime. Integrating, one finds
+## that there are about @math{k} primes less than
+## @tex
+## $k \log (5 k)$.
+## @end tex
+## @ifnottex
+## k*log(5*k).
+## @end ifnottex
+## @seealso{list_primes, isprime}
+## @end deftypefn
+
+## Author: Paul Kienzle
+## Author: Francesco Potortì
+## Author: Dirk Laurie
+
+function x = primes (n)
+
+ if (nargin != 1)
+ print_usage ();
+ endif
+
+ if (! isscalar (n))
+ error ("primes: N must be a scalar");
+ endif
+
+ if (n > 100000)
+ ## Optimization: 1/6 less memory, and much faster (asymptotically)
+ ## 100000 happens to be the cross-over point for Paul's machine;
+ ## below this the more direct code below is faster. At the limit
+ ## of memory in Paul's machine, this saves .7 seconds out of 7 for
+ ## n = 3e6. Hardly worthwhile, but Dirk reports better numbers.
+ lenm = floor ((n+1)/6); # length of the 6n-1 sieve
+ lenp = floor ((n-1)/6); # length of the 6n+1 sieve
+ sievem = true (1, lenm); # assume every number of form 6n-1 is prime
+ sievep = true (1, lenp); # assume every number of form 6n+1 is prime
+
+ for i = 1:(sqrt(n)+1)/6 # check up to sqrt(n)
+ if (sievem(i)) # if i is prime, eliminate multiples of i
+ sievem(7*i-1:6*i-1:lenm) = false;
+ sievep(5*i-1:6*i-1:lenp) = false;
+ endif # if i is prime, eliminate multiples of i
+ if (sievep(i))
+ sievep(7*i+1:6*i+1:lenp) = false;
+ sievem(5*i+1:6*i+1:lenm) = false;
+ endif
+ endfor
+ x = sort([2, 3, 6*find(sievem)-1, 6*find(sievep)+1]);
+ elseif (n > 352) # nothing magical about 352; must be >2
+ len = floor ((n-1)/2); # length of the sieve
+ sieve = true (1, len); # assume every odd number is prime
+ for i = 1:(sqrt(n)-1)/2 # check up to sqrt(n)
+ if (sieve(i)) # if i is prime, eliminate multiples of i
+ sieve(3*i+1:2*i+1:len) = false; # do it
+ endif
+ endfor
+ x = [2, 1+2*find(sieve)]; # primes remaining after sieve
+ else
+ a = [2, 3, 5, 7, 11, 13, 17, 19, 23, 29, 31, 37, 41, 43, 47, ...
+ 53, 59, 61, 67, 71, 73, 79, 83, 89, 97, 101, 103, 107, ...
+ 109, 113, 127, 131, 137, 139, 149, 151, 157, 163, 167, ...
+ 173, 179, 181, 191, 193, 197, 199, 211, 223, 227, 229, ...
+ 233, 239, 241, 251, 257, 263, 269, 271, 277, 281, 283, ...
+ 293, 307, 311, 313, 317, 331, 337, 347, 349];
+ x = a(a <= n);
+ endif
+
+endfunction
+
+%!error primes ();
+%!error primes (1, 2);
+
+%!assert (size (primes (350)), [1, 70]);
+%!assert (size (primes (350)), [1, 70]);
+
+%!assert (primes (357)(end), 353);