A nongraphic matroid M is said to be almost-graphic if, for all elements e, either M\e or M/e is graphic. We determine completely the class of almost-graphic matroids, thereby answering a question posed by Oxley in his book "Matroid Theory." A nonregular matroid is said to be almost-regular if, for all elements e, either M\e or M/e is regular. An element e for which both M\e and M/e are regular is called a regular element. We also determine the almost-regular matroids with at least one regular element. 2002 Elsevier Science (USA)
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