[obs,counts]=yatabulate(x);

Yet Another Tabulating function.

Returns:
obs - column vector of distinct observations in ascending order. Relies on sort.m: "When x is complex, the elements are sorted by abs(x). Complex matches are further sorted by angle(x)."
counts - column vector of respective frequencies.
Note that the tabulate.m provided by MATLAB returns all zero counts upto min(x(:)). This may be undesirable in terms of memory; in particular, tabulate(M) fails (at least in upto version R13) for large (scalar, integer) M. Finally, there appears no need to call hist.m for tabulation as tabulate.m does.

Example:
>>format long g;
>>[o,c]=yatabulate([-sqrt(-1), 2^40,... 1/3, -2^40, 1/3]);
returns:
o =[0.333333333333333;0 -1i;... 1099511627776; -1099511627776];
c =[2;1;1;1];