Matlab exist emulation function
There is no Scilab equivalent for Matlab exist except when input is a variable. Scilab mtlb_exist is a partial emulation of of this function.
The function r = mtlb_exist(nam[,tp]) is used by mfile2sci to replace exist(nam[,tp]) when it was not possible to know what were the inputs while porting Matlab code to Scilab. This function will determine the correct semantic at run time. If you want to have a more efficient code it is possible to replace mtlb_exist calls:
Caution: mtlb_exist has not to be used for hand coded functions.