syms and matrices

[NZG]

I want to create a matrix with undefined symbols in it.
In matlab I do this:
s = sym('s')
mat1 = [s -1 0 0:0 s 0 1:1 0 s 0:0 0 1 s]

mat1 =
   s  -1   0   0
   0   s   0   1
   1   0   s   0
   0   0   1   s


In Octave I tried
s = sym('s')
mat1 = [s -1 0 0;0 s 0 1;1 0 s 0;0 0 1 s]
but it gives me:
error: octave_base_value::array_value(): wrong type argument `ex'
error: evaluating assignment expression near line 28, column 6

Whats the proper way to do this?

thx,
NZG.



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