I think you can achieve this with a bash function:
exists() (
shopt -s nullglob dotglob; shopt -u failglob
a=($1); [[ ${a##*/} != . && ${a##*/} != .. && -e $a ]] && return
)
you'll use it with literal globs (like you do with "find -name" for
instance) eg:
if exists 'mydir/*'; then
echo "mydir is not empty"
else
echo "mydir is empty"
fi
also notice the faq cited earlier has moved:
http://mywiki.wooledge.org/BashFAQ/004
