MATLAB: Check for existence of mat-file in search path

existsearch path

Just came over an "interesting" problem. If I run exist('mandrill','file'), I get false back, which I normally would interpret as the (mat)file doesn't exist in the Matlab search path. However, imgdata=load('mandrill') works perfectly fine. Same applies for the 'seamount' image (or any other images that come along with Matlab/toolboxes).
How come Matlab knows where to look for the file/data when using load() and not when using exist()? Problem is that I'd like to have a test similar to
if ~exist('mandrill')
    bla bla bla;
    return;
else
    bla bla bla;
    return;
end
But at the moment this won't work. Any suggestions for how to solve this?
If it should matter I use Matlab R2012a.
Best regards, dm

Best Answer

Always too fast to ask. Seems like just adding the extension works fine, e.g. exist('mandrill.mat') returns 2.
See comment field at http://blogs.mathworks.com/loren/2006/02/01/existence-in-matlab/ for reference.
Problem solved.
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