function out = parseCaxis(typeOfPlot,value,pptystring,ppty)

select type(value)
case 10
      select value
      case 'auto'
         out=list(ppty,'auto');
      case 'manual'
         out=list(ppty,'manual");
      else
         _error(sprintf('%s : unknown %s mode',typeOfPlot,ppty));
      end
case 1
      if length(value)==2
         out=list(ppty,value(:)');
      else
         _error(sprintf('%s : %s vector must have the form [min max]',typeOfPlot,ppty));
      end
end

endfunction
