-------- utility functions -------- 

 
accumulate     : accumulates column elements of a matrix x
blockdiag      : Construct a block-diagonal matrix with the inputs on the diagonals.
cal            : create a time-series calendar structure variable that
cal_d          : An example of using cal()                               
ccorr1         : converts matrix to correlation form with unit normal scaling.
ccorr2         : converts matrix to correlation form with unit length scaling.
cols           : return columns in a matrix x
crlag          : circular lag function
cumprodc       : compute cumulative product of each column
cumsumc        : compute cumulative sum of each column
delif          : select values of x for which cond is false
diagrv         : replaces main diagonal of a square matrix
dmult          : computes the product of diag(A) and B
find_big       : finds rows where at least one element is > #
find_bigd      : An example of using find_big()  
findnear       : finds element in the input matrix (or vector) with 
fturns         : finds turning points in a time-series
fturns_d       : demo of fturns() 
growthr        : converts the matrix x to annual growth rates
ical           : finds observation # associated with a year,period 
ical_d         : An example of using ical()                               
indexcat       : Extract indices for y being equal to val if val is a scaler
indicator      : converts the matrix x to indicator variables
invccorr       : converts matrix to correlation form with
invpd          : A dummy function to mimic Gauss invpd
invpd_d        : An example of using invpd()                               
kernel_n       : normal kernel density estimate
lag            : creates a matrix or vector of lagged values
levels         : produces a variable vector of factor levels 
lprint         : print an (nobs x nvar) matrix in LaTeX table format
lprint_d       : demo of lprint() 
lprintf        : Prints a matrix of data with a criteria-based symbol next
lprintf_d      : demo of lprintf() 
make_contents  : makes pretty contents.m files for the Econometrics Toolbox
matadd         : performs matrix addition even if matrices
matdiv         : performs matrix division even if matrices
matmul         : performs matrix multiplication even if matrices
matsub         : performs matrix subtraction even if matrices
mlag           : generates a matrix of n lags from a matrix (or vector)
mprint         : print an (nobs x nvar) matrix in formatted form
mprint3        : Pretty-prints a set of matrices together by stacking the 
mprint3_d      : An example of using mprint3
mprint_d       : demo of mprint() 
mth2qtr        : converts monthly time-series to quarterly averages
nclag          : Generates a matrix of lags from a matrix containing
plt            : Plots results structures returned by most functions
prodc          : compute product of each column
prt            : Prints results structures returned by most functions
recserar       : computes a vector of autoregressive recursive series
recsercp       : computes a recursive series involving products
roundoff       : Rounds a number(vector) to a specified number of decimal places
rows           : return rows in a matrix x
sacf           : find sample autocorrelation coefficients 
sacf_d         : demo of sacf() 
sdiff          : generates a vector or matrix of lags
sdummy         : creates a matrix of seasonal dummy variables
selif          : select values of x for which cond is true
seqa           : produce a sequence of values
seqm           : produce a sequence of values
shist          : spline-smoothed plot of a histogram
spacf          : find sample partial autocorrelation coefficients 
spacf_d        : demo of spacf() 
stdc           : standard deviation of each column
sumc           : compute sum of each column
tally          : calculate frequencies of distinct levels in x
tdiff          : produce matrix differences
trimc          : return a matrix (or vector) x stripped of the specified columns.
trimr          : return a matrix (or vector) x stripped of the specified rows.
tsdate         : produce a time-series date string for an observation #
tsdate_d       : demonstrate tsdate functions
tsprint        : print time-series matrix or vector with dates and column labels
tsprint_d      : Examples of using tsprint()                               
unsort         : takes a sorted vector (or matrix) and sort index as input
unsort_d       : demo of unsort() 
util_d         : demonstrate some of the utility functions
vec            : creates a column vector by stacking columns of x
vech           : creates a column vector by stacking columns of x
vecr           : creates a column vector by stacking rows of x
vprob          : returns val = (1/sqrt(2*pi*he))*exp(-0.5*ev*ev/he)
xdiagonal      : spreads an nxk observation matrix x out on
yvector        : repeats an nx1 vector y n times to form