Abstract: A singular Sturm-Liouville operator $ Ly\, =\, - (Py')'\, +\, Qy$, defined on an interval $

[0,b^{\ast})$ of regular points, but singular at $ b^{\ast}$, is considered. Examples are the Airy equation
on $ [0,\infty )$ and the Legendre equation on $ [0,1)$. A mode of oscillation of the successive iterates $
f(t)$, $ (Lf)(t)$, $ ({L^2}f)(t),\, \ldots $ of a smooth function f is assumed, and the resulting influence on f
is studied. The nature of the mode is that for a fixed integer $ N\, \geqslant\, 0$, each iterate $
({L^k}f)(t)$ shall have on $ (0,b^{\ast})$ exactly N sign changes which are stable, in a certain sense, as k
varies. There is quoted from the literature the main characterization of such functions f which
additionally satisfy strong homogeneous endpoint conditions at 0 and $ b^{\ast}$. An extended
characterization is obtained by weakening the conditions of f at 0 and $ b^{\ast}$. The homogeneous
endpoint conditions are replaced by a summability condition on the values, or limits of values, of f at 0
and