def path_exists(path, properties=None, hadoop_conf_dir=None):
try:<EOL><INDENT>dfs(["<STR_LIT>", path], properties, hadoop_conf_dir=hadoop_conf_dir)<EOL><DEDENT>except RuntimeError:<EOL><INDENT>return False<EOL><DEDENT>return True<EOL>
Return :obj:`True` if ``path`` exists in the default HDFS.

Keyword arguments are passed to :func:`dfs`.

This function does the same thing as :func:`hdfs.path.exists
<pydoop.hdfs.path.exists>`, but it uses a wrapper for the Hadoop
shell rather than the hdfs extension.