diff --git a/mercurial/config.py b/mercurial/config.py
--- a/mercurial/config.py
+++ b/mercurial/config.py
@@ -30,6 +30,8 @@ class config(object):
         return config(self)
     def __contains__(self, section):
         return section in self._data
+    def hasitem(self, section, item):
+        return item in self._data.get(section, {})
     def __getitem__(self, section):
         return self._data.get(section, {})
     def __iter__(self):
diff --git a/mercurial/ui.py b/mercurial/ui.py
--- a/mercurial/ui.py
+++ b/mercurial/ui.py
@@ -507,6 +507,9 @@ class ui(object):
                 result = default or []
         return result
 
+    def hasconfig(self, section, name, untrusted=False):
+        return self._data(untrusted).hasitem(section, name)
+
     def has_section(self, section, untrusted=False):
         '''tell whether section exists in config.'''
         return section in self._data(untrusted)