diff --git a/base/file.jl b/base/file.jl
index 6c4f7bc5fb8f30..659c39d7415f8a 100644
--- a/base/file.jl
+++ b/base/file.jl
@@ -929,7 +929,79 @@ julia> readdir(abspath("base"), join=true)
  "/home/JuliaUser/dev/julia/base/weakkeydict.jl"
 ```
 """
-function readdir(dir::AbstractString; join::Bool=false, sort::Bool=true)
+readdir(; join::Bool=false, kwargs...) = readdir(join ? pwd() : "."; join, kwargs...)::Vector{String}
+readdir(dir::AbstractString; kwargs...) = _readdir(dir; return_objects=false, kwargs...)::Vector{String}
+
+# this might be better as an Enum but they're not available here
+# UV_DIRENT_T
+const UV_DIRENT_UNKNOWN = Cint(0)
+const UV_DIRENT_FILE = Cint(1)
+const UV_DIRENT_DIR = Cint(2)
+const UV_DIRENT_LINK = Cint(3)
+const UV_DIRENT_FIFO = Cint(4)
+const UV_DIRENT_SOCKET = Cint(5)
+const UV_DIRENT_CHAR = Cint(6)
+const UV_DIRENT_BLOCK = Cint(7)
+
+"""
+    DirEntry
+
+A type representing a filesystem entry that contains the name of the entry, the directory, and
+the raw type of the entry. The full path of the entry can be obtained lazily by accessing the
+`path` field. The type of the entry can be checked for by calling [`isfile`](@ref), [`isdir`](@ref),
+[`islink`](@ref), [`isfifo`](@ref), [`issocket`](@ref), [`ischardev`](@ref), and [`isblockdev`](@ref)
+"""
+struct DirEntry
+    dir::String
+    name::String
+    rawtype::Cint
+end
+function Base.getproperty(obj::DirEntry, p::Symbol)
+    if p === :path
+        return joinpath(obj.dir, obj.name)
+    else
+        return getfield(obj, p)
+    end
+end
+Base.propertynames(::DirEntry) = (:dir, :name, :path, :rawtype)
+Base.isless(a::DirEntry, b::DirEntry) = a.dir == b.dir ? isless(a.name, b.name) : isless(a.dir, b.dir)
+Base.hash(o::DirEntry, h::UInt) = hash(o.dir, hash(o.name, hash(o.rawtype, h)))
+Base.:(==)(a::DirEntry, b::DirEntry) = a.name == b.name && a.dir == b.dir && a.rawtype == b.rawtype
+joinpath(obj::DirEntry, args...) = joinpath(obj.path, args...)
+isunknown(obj::DirEntry) =  obj.rawtype == UV_DIRENT_UNKNOWN
+islink(obj::DirEntry) =     isunknown(obj) ? islink(obj.path) : obj.rawtype == UV_DIRENT_LINK
+isfile(obj::DirEntry) =     (isunknown(obj) || islink(obj)) ? isfile(obj.path)      : obj.rawtype == UV_DIRENT_FILE
+isdir(obj::DirEntry) =      (isunknown(obj) || islink(obj)) ? isdir(obj.path)       : obj.rawtype == UV_DIRENT_DIR
+isfifo(obj::DirEntry) =     (isunknown(obj) || islink(obj)) ? isfifo(obj.path)      : obj.rawtype == UV_DIRENT_FIFO
+issocket(obj::DirEntry) =   (isunknown(obj) || islink(obj)) ? issocket(obj.path)    : obj.rawtype == UV_DIRENT_SOCKET
+ischardev(obj::DirEntry) =  (isunknown(obj) || islink(obj)) ? ischardev(obj.path)   : obj.rawtype == UV_DIRENT_CHAR
+isblockdev(obj::DirEntry) = (isunknown(obj) || islink(obj)) ? isblockdev(obj.path)  : obj.rawtype == UV_DIRENT_BLOCK
+realpath(obj::DirEntry) = realpath(obj.path)
+
+"""
+    _readdirx(dir::AbstractString=pwd(); sort::Bool = true) -> Vector{DirEntry}
+
+Return a vector of [`DirEntry`](@ref) objects representing the contents of the directory `dir`,
+or the current working directory if not given. If `sort` is true, the returned vector is
+sorted by name.
+
+Unlike [`readdir`](@ref), `_readdirx` returns [`DirEntry`](@ref) objects, which contain the name of the
+file, the directory it is in, and the type of the file which is determined during the
+directory scan. This means that calls to [`isfile`](@ref), [`isdir`](@ref), [`islink`](@ref), [`isfifo`](@ref),
+[`issocket`](@ref), [`ischardev`](@ref), and [`isblockdev`](@ref) can be made on the
+returned objects without further stat calls. However, for some filesystems, the type of the file
+cannot be determined without a stat call. In these cases the `rawtype` field of the [`DirEntry`](@ref))
+object will be 0 (`UV_DIRENT_UNKNOWN`) and [`isfile`](@ref) etc. will fall back to a `stat` call.
+
+```julia
+for obj in _readdirx()
+    isfile(obj) && println("\$(obj.name) is a file with path \$(obj.path)")
+end
+```
+"""
+_readdirx(dir::AbstractString=pwd(); sort::Bool=true) = _readdir(dir; return_objects=true, sort)::Vector{DirEntry}
+
+function _readdir(dir::AbstractString; return_objects::Bool=false, join::Bool=false, sort::Bool=true)
     # Allocate space for uv_fs_t struct
     req = Libc.malloc(_sizeof_uv_fs)
     try
@@ -939,11 +1011,16 @@ function readdir(dir::AbstractString; join::Bool=false, sort::Bool=true)
         err < 0 && uv_error("readdir($(repr(dir)))", err)
 
         # iterate the listing into entries
-        entries = String[]
+        entries = return_objects ? DirEntry[] : String[]
         ent = Ref{uv_dirent_t}()
         while Base.UV_EOF != ccall(:uv_fs_scandir_next, Cint, (Ptr{Cvoid}, Ptr{uv_dirent_t}), req, ent)
             name = unsafe_string(ent[].name)
-            push!(entries, join ? joinpath(dir, name) : name)
+            if return_objects
+                rawtype = ent[].typ
+                push!(entries, DirEntry(dir, name, rawtype))
+            else
+                push!(entries, join ? joinpath(dir, name) : name)
+            end
         end
 
         # Clean up the request string
@@ -957,8 +1034,6 @@ function readdir(dir::AbstractString; join::Bool=false, sort::Bool=true)
         Libc.free(req)
     end
 end
-readdir(; join::Bool=false, sort::Bool=true) =
-    readdir(join ? pwd() : ".", join=join, sort=sort)
 
 """
     walkdir(dir; topdown=true, follow_symlinks=false, onerror=throw)
diff --git a/test/file.jl b/test/file.jl
index 1ce7a5cdb440b7..a5ab29a3bf8bcd 100644
--- a/test/file.jl
+++ b/test/file.jl
@@ -31,6 +31,8 @@ if !Sys.iswindows() || Sys.windows_version() >= Sys.WINDOWS_VISTA_VER
     symlink(subdir, dirlink)
     @test stat(dirlink) == stat(subdir)
     @test readdir(dirlink) == readdir(subdir)
+    @test map(o->o.names, Base.Filesystem._readdirx(dirlink)) == map(o->o.names, Base.Filesystem._readdirx(subdir))
+    @test realpath.(Base.Filesystem._readdirx(dirlink)) == realpath.(Base.Filesystem._readdirx(subdir))
 
     # relative link
     relsubdirlink = joinpath(subdir, "rel_subdirlink")
@@ -38,6 +40,7 @@ if !Sys.iswindows() || Sys.windows_version() >= Sys.WINDOWS_VISTA_VER
     symlink(reldir, relsubdirlink)
     @test stat(relsubdirlink) == stat(subdir2)
     @test readdir(relsubdirlink) == readdir(subdir2)
+    @test Base.Filesystem._readdirx(relsubdirlink) == Base.Filesystem._readdirx(subdir2)
 
     # creation of symlink to directory that does not yet exist
     new_dir = joinpath(subdir, "new_dir")
@@ -56,6 +59,7 @@ if !Sys.iswindows() || Sys.windows_version() >= Sys.WINDOWS_VISTA_VER
     mkdir(new_dir)
     touch(foo_file)
     @test readdir(new_dir) == readdir(nedlink)
+    @test realpath.(Base.Filesystem._readdirx(new_dir)) == realpath.(Base.Filesystem._readdirx(nedlink))
 
     rm(foo_file)
     rm(new_dir)
@@ -1441,6 +1445,10 @@ rm(dirwalk, recursive=true)
                 touch(randstring())
             end
             @test issorted(readdir())
+            @test issorted(Base.Filesystem._readdirx())
+            @test map(o->o.name, Base.Filesystem._readdirx()) == readdir()
+            @test map(o->o.path, Base.Filesystem._readdirx()) == readdir(join=true)
+            @test count(isfile, readdir(join=true)) == count(isfile, Base.Filesystem._readdirx())
         end
     end
 end
diff --git a/test/misc.jl b/test/misc.jl
index 6597ecf8a84289..e870c7f491c139 100644
--- a/test/misc.jl
+++ b/test/misc.jl
@@ -1363,9 +1363,10 @@ end
 @test isdefined(KwdefWithEsc_TestModule, :Struct)
 
 @testset "exports of modules" begin
-    for (_, mod) in Base.loaded_modules
+    @testset "$mod" for (_, mod) in Base.loaded_modules
         mod === Main && continue # Main exports everything
-        for v in names(mod)
+        @testset "$v" for v in names(mod)
+            isdefined(mod, v) || @error "missing $v in $mod"
             @test isdefined(mod, v)
         end
     end