I just noticed there is no cla() function.
Over the weekend I'll add a new trivial function for gca().
I took a quick look at what delete(gca) would do.
octave-3.1.51+:79> figure(1)
octave-3.1.51+:80> axis;
octave-3.1.51+:81> plot(1:10)
octave-3.1.51+:82> delete(gca)
octave-3.1.51+:83> plot(1:10)
error: axes: expecting argument to be axes handle
error: called from:
error: /sw/share/octave/3.1.51+/m/plot/axes.m at line 54, column 7
error: axes: expecting argument to be axes handle
error: called from:
error: /sw/share/octave/3.1.51+/m/plot/axes.m at line 54, column 7
error: /sw/share/octave/3.1.51+/m/plot/plot.m at line 187, column 5
octave-3.1.51+:84> gca
ans = -67.893