--- a/scripts/specfun/perms.m	Thu Oct 25 17:02:26 2012 -0400
+++ b/scripts/specfun/perms.m	Fri Oct 26 10:46:17 2012 -0400
@@ -38,35 +38,36 @@
 ## @end example
 ## @end deftypefn
 
-function A = perms (v)
+function A = perms (w)
   if (nargin != 1)
     print_usage ();
   endif
-  v = v(:);
+  v = [1:length(w)]';
   n = length (v);
 
   if (n == 0)
-    A = [];
+    p = [];
   else
-    A = v(1);
+    p = v(1);
     for j = 2:n
-      B = A;
-      A = zeros (prod (2:j), n, class (v));
+      B = p;
+      p = zeros (prod (2:j), n);
       k = rows (B);
       idx = 1:k;
       for i = j:-1:1
-        A(idx,1:i-1) = B(:,1:i-1);
-        A(idx,i) = v(j);
-        A(idx,i+1:j) = B(:,i:j-1);
+        p(idx,1:i-1) = B(:,1:i-1);
+        p(idx,i) = v(j);
+        p(idx,i+1:j) = B(:,i:j-1);
         idx += k;
       endfor
     endfor
   endif
+  A = w(p);
 endfunction
 
 
 %!assert (perms ([1,2,3]), [1,2,3;2,1,3;1,3,2;2,3,1;3,1,2;3,2,1])
-%!assert (perms (1:3), perms ([1,2,3]))
+%!assert (perms ("abc"), ["abc"; "bac"; "acb"; "bca"; "cab"; "cba"])
 %!assert (perms (int8 ([1,2,3])), int8 ([1,2,3;2,1,3;1,3,2;2,3,1;3,1,2;3,2,1]))
 
 %!error perms ()