--- a/src/ChangeLog	Tue Aug 31 23:27:18 2010 +0200
+++ b/src/ChangeLog	Wed Sep 01 08:43:23 2010 +0200
@@ -1,3 +1,8 @@
+2010-09-01  Jaroslav Hajek  <highegg@gmail.com>
+
+	* DLD-FUNCTIONS/dlmread.cc (Fdlmread): Support "emptyvalue" option.
+	Fix condition for terminating read.
+
 2010-08-31  Jaroslav Hajek  <highegg@gmail.com>
 
 	* DLD-FUNCTIONS/dlmread.cc (Fdlmread): Support reading from a file ID.

--- a/src/DLD-FUNCTIONS/dlmread.cc	Tue Aug 31 23:27:18 2010 +0200
+++ b/src/DLD-FUNCTIONS/dlmread.cc	Wed Sep 01 08:43:23 2010 +0200
@@ -161,6 +161,7 @@
 @deftypefnx {Loadable Function} {@var{data} =} dlmread (@var{file}, @var{sep})\n\
 @deftypefnx {Loadable Function} {@var{data} =} dlmread (@var{file}, @var{sep}, @var{r0}, @var{c0})\n\
 @deftypefnx {Loadable Function} {@var{data} =} dlmread (@var{file}, @var{sep}, @var{range})\n\
+@deftypefnx {Loadable Function} {@var{data} =} dlmread (@dots{}, \"emptyvalue\", @var{EMPTYVAL})\n\
 Read the matrix @var{data} from a text file.  If not defined the separator\n\
 between fields is determined from the file itself.  Otherwise the\n\
 separation character is defined by @var{sep}.\n\
@@ -177,6 +178,9 @@
 \n\
 @var{file} should be a file name or file id given by @code{fopen}. In the\n\
 latter case, the file is read until end of file is reached.\n\
+\n\
+The \"emptyvalue\" option may be used to specify the value used to fill empty\n\
+fields. Default is zero.\n\
 @seealso{csvread,dlmwrite,fopen}\n\
 @end deftypefn")
 {
@@ -184,6 +188,17 @@
 
   int nargin = args.length ();
 
+  double empty_value = 0.0;
+
+  if (nargin > 2 && args(nargin-2).is_string () 
+      && args(nargin-2).string_value () == "emptyvalue")
+    {
+      empty_value = args(nargin-1).double_value ();
+      if (error_state)
+         return retval;
+      nargin -= 2;
+    }
+
   if (nargin < 1 || nargin > 4) 
     {
       print_usage ();
@@ -276,8 +291,6 @@
       bool iscmplx = false;
       bool sepflag = false;
 
-      octave_idx_type maxrows = r1 - r0;
-
       std::string line;
 
       // Skip the r0 leading lines as these might be a header.
@@ -424,9 +437,9 @@
                     }
                 }
               else if (iscmplx)
-                cdata(i,j++) = 0.;
+                cdata(i,j++) = empty_value;
               else
-                rdata(i,j++) = 0.;
+                rdata(i,j++) = empty_value;
 
               if (pos2 != std::string::npos)
                 pos1 = pos2 + 1;
@@ -436,7 +449,7 @@
             }
           while (pos1 != std::string::npos);
 
-          if (nargin == 3 && i == maxrows)
+          if (i == r1)
             break;
 
           i++;