diff --git a/loadh5.m b/loadh5.m
index add67ce..0e6e54c 100644
--- a/loadh5.m
+++ b/loadh5.m
@@ -61,6 +61,16 @@
     path=varargin{1};
 end
 
+opt.dotranspose=jsonopt('Transpose',1,opt);
+
+if(exist('OCTAVE_VERSION', 'builtin') ~= 0)
+   [varargout{1:nargout}]=load(filename, '-hdf5');
+   if(opt.dotranspose)
+      varargout{1}=transposemat(varargout{1});
+   end
+   return;
+end
+
 if(isa(filename,'H5ML.id'))
     loc=filename;
 else
@@ -77,13 +87,6 @@
     opt.complexformat={'Real','Imag'};
 end
 
-opt.dotranspose=jsonopt('Transpose',1,opt);
-
-if(exist('OCTAVE_VERSION', 'builtin') ~= 0)
-   [varargout{1:nargout}]=load(filename, '-hdf5');
-   return;
-end
-
 opt.releaseid=0;
 vers=ver('MATLAB');
 if(~isempty(vers))
diff --git a/transposemat.m b/transposemat.m
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..a81f440
--- /dev/null
+++ b/transposemat.m
@@ -0,0 +1,40 @@
+function data=transposemat(input)
+%
+%    data=transposemat(input)
+%
+%    Iterate over struct/cell and transpose 2D or higher-dimensional numerical
+%    array to match Octave loaded HDF5 array elements with loadh5 default setting
+%
+%    author: Qianqian Fang (q.fang <at> neu.edu)
+%
+%    input:
+%        name: a matlab variable, can be a cell, struct, containers.Map, numeric array or strings
+%
+%    output:
+%        newname: the restored original string
+%
+%    example:
+%        a=struct('a', ones(2,3), 'b', 'a string', 'c', uint8(zeros(2,3,4)));
+%        b=transposemat(a)
+%
+%    this file is part of EasyH5 Toolbox: https://github.com/NeuroJSON/easyh5
+%
+%    License: GPLv3 or 3-clause BSD license, see https://github.com/NeuroJSON/easyh5 for details
+%
+
+if(isstruct(input))
+    data=structfun(@transposemat, input, 'UniformOutput',false);
+elseif(iscell(input))
+    data=cellfun(@transposemat, input, 'UniformOutput', 'false');
+elseif(isa(input, 'containers.Map'))
+    allkeys=keys(input);
+    for i = 1:length(allkeys)
+       input(allkeys(i))=transposemat(allkeys(i));
+    end
+elseif(isnumeric(input) && (ndims(input)>2 || all(size(input)>1)))
+    data=sub_data=permute(input,ndims(input):-1:1);
+elseif(ischar(input) && ndims(input)==2 && size(input,1)==1 && size(input,2)>1 && input(end)==' ')
+    data=input(1:end-1);
+else
+    data=input;
+end