--- figure.m	2010-03-26 19:51:06.526107382 -0700
+++ /home/hauberg/Programmer/share/octave/3.3.51+/m/plot/figure.m	2010-03-29 20:58:02.195263600 -0700
@@ -38,6 +38,10 @@
   init_new_figure = false;
   if (mod (nargs, 2) == 1)
     tmp = varargin{1};
+    if (ischar (tmp))
+      tmp = str2num (tmp);
+    endif
+    
     if (ishandle (tmp) && strcmp (get (tmp, "type"), "figure"))
       f = tmp;
       varargin(1) = [];