samer@1: % length - length of finite signal
samer@1: function n=length(sig,varargin)
samer@1: 	opts=prefs('chunk',1024,'init',2,'grow',2,'max',1e12,varargin{:});
samer@1: 
samer@1: 	s=construct(sig);
samer@1: 	try % to make sure we dispose of s once opened
samer@1: 		chunk=uint64(opts.chunk);
samer@1: 		n=uint64(0); CHUNK=1:chunk; 
samer@1: 		r=s.reader(opts.chunk);
samer@1: 		dummy=[];
samer@1: 		rem=0; 
samer@1: 		while rem==0
samer@1: 			[dummy,rem]=r();
samer@1: 			n=n+chunk;
samer@1: 			if n>opts.max, error('maximum length exceeded'); end
samer@1: 		end
samer@1: 		n=n-uint64(rem); % remove rem samples from end
samer@1: 	catch ex
samer@1: 		s.dispose();
samer@1: 		rethrow(ex);
samer@1: 	end
samer@1: 	s.dispose();
samer@1: 	n=double(n);
samer@1: end