--- a/scripts/strings/base2dec.m	Mon Sep 19 22:52:47 2011 +0100
+++ b/scripts/strings/base2dec.m	Mon Sep 19 17:15:07 2011 -0700
@@ -28,10 +28,12 @@
 ## @end group
 ## @end example
 ##
-## If @var{s} is a matrix, returns a column vector with one value per
+## If @var{s} is a string matrix, return a column vector with one value per
 ## row of @var{s}.  If a row contains invalid symbols then the
-## corresponding value will be NaN@.  Rows are right-justified before
-## converting so that trailing spaces are ignored.
+## corresponding value will be NaN@.  
+##
+## If @var{s} is a cell array of strings, return a column vector with one
+## value per cell element in @var{s}.
 ##
 ## If @var{base} is a string, the characters of @var{base} are used as the
 ## symbols for the digits of @var{s}.  Space (' ') may not be used as a
@@ -55,6 +57,12 @@
     print_usage ();
   endif
 
+  if (iscellstr (s))
+    s = char (s);
+  elseif (! ischar (s))
+    error ("base2dec: S must be a string or cellstring");
+  endif
+
   symbols = "0123456789ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ";
   if (ischar (base))
     symbols = base;
@@ -89,9 +97,11 @@
 
 endfunction
 
+
 %!assert(base2dec ("11120", 3), 123);
 %!assert(base2dec ("yyyzx", "xyz"), 123);
 %!assert(base2dec ("-1", 2), NaN);
+%!assert(base2dec ({"A1", "1A"}, 16), [161; 26]);
 
 %%Test input validation
 %!error base2dec ();

--- a/scripts/strings/bin2dec.m	Mon Sep 19 22:52:47 2011 +0100
+++ b/scripts/strings/bin2dec.m	Mon Sep 19 17:15:07 2011 -0700
@@ -28,8 +28,11 @@
 ## @end group
 ## @end example
 ##
-## If @var{s} is a string matrix, return a column vector of converted
-## numbers, one per row of @var{s}.  Invalid rows evaluate to NaN.
+## If @var{s} is a string matrix, return a column vector with one converted
+## number per row of @var{s}; Invalid rows evaluate to NaN@.
+##
+## If @var{s} is a cell array of strings, return a column vector with one
+## converted number per cell element in @var{s}.
 ## @seealso{dec2bin, base2dec, hex2dec}
 ## @end deftypefn
 
@@ -38,17 +41,19 @@
 
 function d = bin2dec (s)
 
-  if (nargin == 1 && ischar (s))
-    d = base2dec (s, 2);
-  else
+  if (nargin != 1)
     print_usage ();
   endif
 
+  d = base2dec (s, 2);
+
 endfunction
 
+
 %!assert(bin2dec ("0000"), 0);
 %!assert(bin2dec ("1110"), 14);
 %!assert(bin2dec ("11111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111"), 2^53-1);
+%!assert(bin2dec ({"1110", "1111"}), [14; 15]);
 
 %%Test input validation
 %!error bin2dec ();

--- a/scripts/strings/hex2dec.m	Mon Sep 19 22:52:47 2011 +0100
+++ b/scripts/strings/hex2dec.m	Mon Sep 19 17:15:07 2011 -0700
@@ -30,8 +30,12 @@
 ## @end group
 ## @end example
 ##
-## If @var{s} is a string matrix, returns a column vector of converted
-## numbers, one per row of @var{s}.  Invalid rows evaluate to NaN.
+## If @var{s} is a string matrix, return a column vector with one converted
+## number per row of @var{s}; Invalid rows evaluate to NaN@.
+##
+## If @var{s} is a cell array of strings, return a column vector with one
+## converted number per cell element in @var{s}.
+##
 ## @seealso{dec2hex, base2dec, bin2dec}
 ## @end deftypefn
 
@@ -40,17 +44,19 @@
 
 function d = hex2dec (s)
 
-  if (nargin == 1 && ischar (s))
-    d = base2dec (s, 16);
-  else
+  if (nargin != 1)
     print_usage ();
   endif
 
+  d = base2dec (s, 16);
+
 endfunction
 
+
 %!assert(hex2dec ("0000"), 0);
 %!assert(hex2dec ("1FFFFFFFFFFFFF"), 2^53-1);
-%!assert(hex2dec ("12b") == 299 && hex2dec ("12B") == 299);
+%!assert(hex2dec (["12b"; "12B"]), [299; 299]);
+%!assert(hex2dec ({"A1", "1A"}), [161; 26]);
 
 %%Test input validation
 %!error hex2dec ();