octave:2> pkg load serial
octave:3> sif = "/dev/ttyUSB0";
octave:4> s = serial(sif, 115200);
octave:5>
octave:5> # Example 1: blocking read, returns exactly 6 bytes (old behavior)
octave:5> srl_flush(s) ; srl_write(s, "Hello1!"); [data, count] = srl_read(s, 7); char(data), count
ans = Hello1!
count =  7
octave:6>
octave:6> # Example 2: non-blocking read, returns 6 bytes from buffer immediately (n.b. tried to read up to 10, only 6 written to the buffer)
octave:6> srl_timeout(s, 0); srl_flush(s) ; srl_write(s, "Hello2!"); sleep(1); tic(); [data, count] = srl_read(s, 10); toc(); char(data), count
Elapsed time is 0.00025 seconds.
ans = Hello2!
count =  7
octave:7>
octave:7> # Example 3: non-blocking read, returns 6 bytes after a timeout of 3.0 seconds (n.b. tried to read up to 10)
octave:7> srl_timeout(s, 30); srl_flush(s) ; srl_write(s, "Hello3!"); sleep(1); tic(); [data, count] = srl_read(s, 10); toc(); char(data), count
Elapsed time is 3 seconds.
ans = Hello3!
count =  7
octave:8>
octave:8> # Example 4: non-blocking read, returns no data after timeout of 3.0 seconds (n.b. there was no data available to the interface before reading)
octave:8> srl_timeout(s, 30); srl_flush(s) ; sleep (1); tic(); [data, count] = srl_read(s, 10); toc(); char(data), count,  srl_close(s);
Elapsed time is 3 seconds.
ans =
count = 0