  The influence of an external magnetic field on a quasi one-dimensional system
with a charge density wave (CDW) instability is treated within the random phase
approximation which includes both CDW and spin density wave correlations. We
show that the CDW is sensitive to both orbital and Pauli effects of the field.
In the case of perfect nesting, the critical temperature decreases monotonously
with the field, and the wave vector of the instability starts to shift above
some critical value of magnetic field. Depending on the ratio between the spin
and charge coupling constants and on the direction of the applied magnetic
field, the wave vector shift is either parallel ($CDW_x$ order) or
perpendicular ($CDW_y$ order) to the most conducting direction. The $CDW_x$
order is a field dependent linear combination of the charge and spin density
waves and is sensible only to the Pauli effect. The wave vector shift in
$CDW_y$ depends on the interchain coupling, but the critical temperature does
not. This order is affected by the confinement of the electronic orbits. By
increasing the relative strength of the orbital effect with respect to the
Pauli effect, one can destroy the $CDW_y$, establishing either a $CDW_x$, or a
$CDW_0$ (corresponding to perfect nesting wave vector). We also show that by
increasing the imperfect nesting parameter, one passes from the regime where
the critical temperature decreases with the field to the regime where it is
initially enhanced by the orbital effect and eventually suppressed by the Pauli
effect. For a bad nesting, the quantized phases of the field-induced CDW
appear.
