diff --git a/lib/path.cpp b/lib/path.cpp
index 831bedda408..5cea8c0ba43 100644
--- a/lib/path.cpp
+++ b/lib/path.cpp
@@ -428,10 +428,18 @@ bool Path::isDirectory(const std::string &path)
     return file_type(path) == S_IFDIR;
 }
 
-bool Path::exists(const std::string &path)
+bool Path::exists(const std::string &path, bool* isdir)
 {
     const auto type = file_type(path);
-    return type == S_IFREG || type == S_IFDIR;
+    if (type == S_IFDIR)
+    {
+        if (isdir)
+            *isdir = true;
+        return true;
+    }
+    if (isdir)
+        *isdir = false;
+    return type == S_IFREG;
 }
 
 std::string Path::join(const std::string& path1, const std::string& path2) {
diff --git a/lib/path.h b/lib/path.h
index db22773ed65..56991b1fb17 100644
--- a/lib/path.h
+++ b/lib/path.h
@@ -195,9 +195,10 @@ class CPPCHECKLIB Path {
     /**
      * @brief Checks if a given path exists (i.e. is a file or directory)
      * @param path Path to be checked
+     * @param isdir Optional parameter which indicates if the existing path is a directory
      * @return true if given path exists
      */
-    static bool exists(const std::string &path);
+    static bool exists(const std::string &path, bool* isdir = nullptr);
 
     /**
      * join 2 paths with '/' separators
diff --git a/test/testpath.cpp b/test/testpath.cpp
index 2a726d9eeb4..1c022117a0d 100644
--- a/test/testpath.cpp
+++ b/test/testpath.cpp
@@ -555,13 +555,27 @@ class TestPath : public TestFixture {
     void exists() const {
         ScopedFile file("testpath.txt", "", "testpath");
         ScopedFile file2("testpath2.txt", "");
+
         ASSERT_EQUALS(true, Path::exists("testpath"));
-        ASSERT_EQUALS(true, Path::exists("testpath/testpath.txt"));
         ASSERT_EQUALS(true, Path::exists("testpath2.txt"));
 
         ASSERT_EQUALS(false, Path::exists("testpath2"));
-        ASSERT_EQUALS(false, Path::exists("testpath/testpath2.txt"));
-        ASSERT_EQUALS(false, Path::exists("testpath.txt"));
+
+        bool b = false;
+
+        ASSERT_EQUALS(true, Path::exists("testpath", &b));
+        ASSERT_EQUALS(true, b);
+        ASSERT_EQUALS(true, Path::exists("testpath/testpath.txt", &b));
+        ASSERT_EQUALS(false, b);
+        ASSERT_EQUALS(true, Path::exists("testpath2.txt", &b));
+        ASSERT_EQUALS(false, b);
+
+        ASSERT_EQUALS(false, Path::exists("testpath2", &b));
+        ASSERT_EQUALS(false, b);
+        ASSERT_EQUALS(false, Path::exists("testpath/testpath2.txt", &b));
+        ASSERT_EQUALS(false, b);
+        ASSERT_EQUALS(false, Path::exists("testpath.txt", &b));
+        ASSERT_EQUALS(false, b);
     }
 };