diff --git a/pyproject.toml b/pyproject.toml
index 8a5be29..2344cd3 100644
--- a/pyproject.toml
+++ b/pyproject.toml
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 [project]
 name = "smashed"
-version = "0.19.4"
+version = "0.19.5"
 description = """\
 SMASHED is a toolkit designed to apply transformations to samples in \
 datasets, such as fields extraction, tokenization, prompting, batching, \
diff --git a/src/smashed/utils/io_utils.py b/src/smashed/utils/io_utils.py
index 07c3190..6174e5e 100644
--- a/src/smashed/utils/io_utils.py
+++ b/src/smashed/utils/io_utils.py
@@ -34,6 +34,9 @@
 
 __all__ = [
     "copy_directory",
+    "exists",
+    "is_dir",
+    "is_file",
     "open_file_for_read",
     "open_file_for_write",
     "recursively_list_files",
@@ -274,6 +277,66 @@ def open_file_for_read(
             remove_local_file(str(path))
 
 
+def is_dir(
+    path: PathType,
+    client: Optional[ClientType] = None,
+    raise_if_not_exists: bool = False,
+) -> bool:
+    """Check if a path is a directory."""
+
+    path = MultiPath.parse(path)
+    client = client or get_client_if_needed(path)
+
+    if path.is_local:
+        if not (e := path.as_path.exists()) and raise_if_not_exists:
+            raise FileNotFoundError(f"Path does not exist: {path}")
+        elif not e:
+            return False
+        return path.as_path.is_dir()
+    elif path.is_s3:
+        assert client is not None, "Could not get S3 client"
+        resp = client.list_objects_v2(
+            Bucket=path.bucket, Prefix=path.key.lstrip("/"), Delimiter="/"
+        )
+        if "CommonPrefixes" in resp:
+            return True
+        elif "Contents" in resp:
+            return False
+        elif raise_if_not_exists:
+            raise FileNotFoundError(f"Path does not exist: {path}")
+        return False
+    else:
+        raise FileNotFoundError(f"Unsupported protocol: {path.prot}")
+
+
+def is_file(
+    path: PathType,
+    client: Optional[ClientType] = None,
+    raise_if_not_exists: bool = False,
+) -> bool:
+    """Check if a path is a file."""
+
+    try:
+        return not is_dir(path=path, client=client, raise_if_not_exists=True)
+    except FileNotFoundError as e:
+        if raise_if_not_exists:
+            raise FileNotFoundError(f"Path does not exist: {path}") from e
+        return False
+
+
+def exists(
+    path: PathType,
+    client: Optional[ClientType] = None,
+) -> bool:
+    """Check if a path exists"""
+
+    try:
+        is_dir(path=path, client=client, raise_if_not_exists=True)
+        return True
+    except FileNotFoundError:
+        return False
+
+
 @contextmanager
 def open_file_for_write(
     path: PathType,
@@ -350,7 +413,9 @@ def open_file_for_write(
 
 def recursively_list_files(
     path: PathType,
-    ignore_hidden_files: bool = True,
+    ignore_hidden: bool = True,
+    include_dirs: bool = False,
+    include_files: bool = True,
     client: Optional[ClientType] = None,
 ) -> Iterable[str]:
     """Recursively list all files in the given directory for a given
@@ -358,8 +423,14 @@ def recursively_list_files(
 
     Args:
         path (Union[str, Path, MultiPath]): The path to list content at.
-        ignore_hidden_files (bool, optional): Whether to ignore hidden files
-            (i.e. files that start with a dot) when listing. Defaults to True.
+        ignore_hidden (bool, optional): Whether to ignore hidden files and
+            directories when listing. Defaults to True.
+        include_dirs (bool, optional): Whether to include directories in the
+            listing. Defaults to False.
+        include_files (bool, optional): Whether to include files in the
+            listing. Defaults to True.
+        client (boto3.client, optional): The boto3 client to use. If not
+            provided, one will be created if necessary.
     """
 
     path = MultiPath.parse(path)
@@ -377,17 +448,27 @@ def recursively_list_files(
             for page in pages:
                 for obj in page["Contents"]:
                     key = obj["Key"]
-                    if key[-1] == "/":  # last char is a slash
+                    path = MultiPath(prot="s3", root=path.root, path=key)
+                    if key[-1] == "/" and key != prefix:
+                        # last char is a slash, so it's a directory
+                        # we don't want to re-include the prefix though, so we
+                        # check that it's not the same
                         prefixes.append(key)
+                        if include_dirs:
+                            yield str(path)
                     else:
-                        p = MultiPath(prot="s3", root=path.root, path=key)
-                        yield str(p)
+                        if include_files:
+                            yield str(path)
 
     if path.is_local:
-        for _root, _, files in local_walk(path.as_str):
+        for _root, dirnames, filenames in local_walk(path.as_str):
             root = Path(_root)
-            for f in files:
-                if ignore_hidden_files and f.startswith("."):
+            to_list = [
+                *(dirnames if include_dirs else []),
+                *(filenames if include_files else []),
+            ]
+            for f in to_list:
+                if ignore_hidden and f.startswith("."):
                     continue
                 yield str(MultiPath.parse(root / f))
 
@@ -423,7 +504,7 @@ def copy_directory(
     client = client or get_client_if_needed(src) or get_client_if_needed(dst)
 
     for sp in recursively_list_files(
-        path=src, ignore_hidden_files=ignore_hidden_files
+        path=src, ignore_hidden=ignore_hidden_files
     ):
         # parse the source path
         source_path = MultiPath.parse(sp)
@@ -475,7 +556,7 @@ def remove_directory(path: PathType, client: Optional[ClientType] = None):
         assert client is not None, "Could not get S3 client"
 
         for fn in recursively_list_files(
-            path=path, ignore_hidden_files=False, client=client
+            path=path, ignore_hidden=False, client=client
         ):
             remove_file(fn, client=client)