diff -N -r -u octave-2.1.34/src/variables.cc octave-2.1.34.orig/src/variables.cc
--- octave-2.1.34/src/variables.cc.orig	Fri Mar 24 10:36:30 2000
+++ octave-2.1.34/src/variables.cc	Fri Jun 30 20:12:14 2000
@@ -428,7 +428,21 @@
 
   int nargin = args.length ();
 
-  if (nargin != 1)
+  string var_only = "" ;
+  int var_only_i = 0 ;
+
+  if (nargin == 2)
+    {
+      var_only = args(1).string_value ();
+      if( var_only.compare ("var", 0, 3) != 0 )
+	{
+	  print_usage ("exist");
+	  return retval;
+	}
+      else 
+	var_only_i = 1 ;
+    }
+  if (nargin > 2 || ! nargin )
     {
       print_usage ("exist");
       return retval;
@@ -464,6 +478,10 @@
     {
       if (struct_elts.empty () || sr->is_map_element (struct_elts))
 	retval = 1.0;
+    }
+  else if ( var_only_i ) 
+    {
+      return retval ;
     }
   else if (sr && sr->is_builtin_function ())
     {