using command number in octave:1>

[David Grundberg]

Hi,

when you start Octave, it shows you a prompt, like this:

octave:1>

That follows from PS1, set to '\s:\#> '.  I read the docs and \# is 
apparently called the "command number".  (Not the same concept as 
"history number".)

I searched for command number in the bash manual and in the readline 
user manual, but I can't find what use it has.  Can I feed it back into 
readline?  Can I use it to reference previous commands?

David