--- a/NEWS	Wed Dec 27 08:59:41 2017 -0800
+++ b/NEWS	Wed Dec 27 11:22:26 2017 -0800
@@ -100,6 +100,7 @@
       integral2
       integral3
       isgraphics
+      isstring
       openvar
       quad2d
       repelem

--- a/doc/interpreter/strings.txi	Wed Dec 27 08:59:41 2017 -0800
+++ b/doc/interpreter/strings.txi	Wed Dec 27 11:22:26 2017 -0800
@@ -177,19 +177,21 @@
 
 @DOCSTRING(ischar)
 
-To test if an object is a string (i.e., a character vector and not a character
-matrix) you can use the @code{ischar} function in combination with the
-@code{isvector} function as in the following example:
+@DOCSTRING(isstring)
+
+To test if an object is a string (i.e., a 1xN row vector of characters
+and not a character matrix) you can use the @code{ischar} function in
+combination with the @code{isrow} function as in the following example:
 
 @example
 @group
 ischar (collection)
      @result{} 1
 
-ischar (collection) && isvector (collection)
+ischar (collection) && isrow (collection)
      @result{} 0
 
-ischar ("my string") && isvector ("my string")
+ischar ("my string") && isrow ("my string")
      @result{} 1
 @end group
 @end example

--- a/libinterp/corefcn/data.cc	Wed Dec 27 08:59:41 2017 -0800
+++ b/libinterp/corefcn/data.cc	Wed Dec 27 11:22:26 2017 -0800
@@ -3102,7 +3102,7 @@
 @deftypefn  {} {} islogical (@var{x})
 @deftypefnx {} {} isbool (@var{x})
 Return true if @var{x} is a logical object.
-@seealso{isfloat, isinteger, ischar, isnumeric, isa}
+@seealso{ischar, isfloat, isinteger, isstring, isnumeric, isa}
 @end deftypefn */)
 {
   if (args.length () != 1)
@@ -3134,7 +3134,7 @@
 
 Note that @w{@code{isinteger (14)}} is false because numeric constants in
 Octave are double precision floating point values.
-@seealso{isfloat, ischar, islogical, isnumeric, isa}
+@seealso{isfloat, ischar, islogical, isstring, isnumeric, isa}
 @end deftypefn */)
 {
   if (args.length () != 1)
@@ -3189,7 +3189,7 @@
        doc: /* -*- texinfo -*-
 @deftypefn {} {} iscomplex (@var{x})
 Return true if @var{x} is a complex-valued numeric object.
-@seealso{isreal, isnumeric, islogical, ischar, isfloat, isa}
+@seealso{isreal, isnumeric, ischar, isfloat, islogical, isstring, isa}
 @end deftypefn */)
 {
   if (args.length () != 1)
@@ -3204,7 +3204,7 @@
 Return true if @var{x} is a floating-point numeric object.
 
 Objects of class double or single are floating-point objects.
-@seealso{isinteger, ischar, islogical, isnumeric, isa}
+@seealso{isinteger, ischar, islogical, isnumeric, isstring, isa}
 @end deftypefn */)
 {
   if (args.length () != 1)
@@ -3565,7 +3565,7 @@
 complex array.
 
 Logical and character arrays are not considered to be numeric.
-@seealso{isinteger, isfloat, isreal, iscomplex, islogical, ischar, iscell, isstruct, isa}
+@seealso{isinteger, isfloat, isreal, iscomplex, ischar, islogical, isstring, iscell, isstruct, isa}
 @end deftypefn */)
 {
   if (args.length () != 1)

--- a/libinterp/corefcn/strfns.cc	Wed Dec 27 08:59:41 2017 -0800
+++ b/libinterp/corefcn/strfns.cc	Wed Dec 27 11:22:26 2017 -0800
@@ -286,7 +286,7 @@
        doc: /* -*- texinfo -*-
 @deftypefn {} {} ischar (@var{x})
 Return true if @var{x} is a character array.
-@seealso{isfloat, isinteger, islogical, isnumeric, iscellstr, isa}
+@seealso{isfloat, isinteger, islogical, isnumeric, isstring, iscellstr, isa}
 @end deftypefn */)
 {
   if (args.length () != 1)

--- a/libinterp/octave-value/ov-cell.cc	Wed Dec 27 08:59:41 2017 -0800
+++ b/libinterp/octave-value/ov-cell.cc	Wed Dec 27 11:22:26 2017 -0800
@@ -1269,7 +1269,7 @@
 @deftypefn {} {} iscellstr (@var{cell})
 Return true if every element of the cell array @var{cell} is a character
 string.
-@seealso{ischar}
+@seealso{ischar, isstring}
 @end deftypefn */)
 {
   if (args.length () != 1)

--- /dev/null	Thu Jan 01 00:00:00 1970 +0000
+++ b/scripts/strings/isstring.m	Wed Dec 27 11:22:26 2017 -0800
@@ -0,0 +1,55 @@
+## Copyright (C) 2017 Rik Wehbring
+##
+## 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 {} {} isstring (@var{x})
+## Return true if @var{x} is a string array.
+##
+## A string array is a data type that stores strings (row vectors of characters)
+## at each element in the array.  It is distinct from character arrays which
+## are N-dimensional arrays where each element is a single 1x1 character.  It
+## is also distinct from cell arrays of strings which store strings at each
+## element, but use cell indexing @samp{@{@}} to access elements rather than
+## string arrays which use ordinary array indexing @samp{()}.
+##
+## Programming Note: Octave does not yet implement string arrays so this
+## function will always return false.
+## @seealso{ischar, iscellstr, isfloat, isinteger, islogical, isnumeric, isa}
+## @end deftypefn
+
+function retval = isstring (s)
+
+  if (nargin != 1)
+    print_usage ();
+  endif
+
+  retval = false;
+
+endfunction
+
+
+%!assert (isstring ([]), false)
+%!assert (isstring (1), false)
+%!assert (isstring ('a'), false)
+## FIXME: when string arrays are implemented, this should return true. 
+#%!assert (isstring ("b"), true)
+%!assert (isstring ({'a'}), false)
+%!assert (isstring ({"b"}), false)
+
+%!error isstring ()
+%!error isstring ("a", "b")

--- a/scripts/strings/module.mk	Wed Dec 27 08:59:41 2017 -0800
+++ b/scripts/strings/module.mk	Wed Dec 27 11:22:26 2017 -0800
@@ -14,6 +14,7 @@
   %reldir%/hex2dec.m \
   %reldir%/index.m \
   %reldir%/isletter.m \
+  %reldir%/isstring.m \
   %reldir%/isstrprop.m \
   %reldir%/mat2str.m \
   %reldir%/native2unicode.m \