diff --git a/changelog/977.md b/changelog/977.md
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..d41453c1b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/changelog/977.md
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+- Fix warning when calling hasVariable for an undefined variable [#977](https://github.com/smarty-php/smarty/issues/977)
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/src/Data.php b/src/Data.php
index 582ee6601..3bb7814db 100644
--- a/src/Data.php
+++ b/src/Data.php
@@ -290,7 +290,7 @@ public function setVariable($varName, Variable $variableObject) {
 	 * @return bool
 	 */
 	public function hasVariable($varName): bool {
-		return !($this->getVariable($varName) instanceof UndefinedVariable);
+		return !($this->getVariable($varName, true, false) instanceof UndefinedVariable);
 	}
 
 	/**
diff --git a/tests/UnitTests/SmartyMethodsTests/GetTemplateVars/cache/.gitignore b/tests/UnitTests/SmartyMethodsTests/GetTemplateVars/cache/.gitignore
deleted file mode 100644
index d88cc1446..000000000
--- a/tests/UnitTests/SmartyMethodsTests/GetTemplateVars/cache/.gitignore
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,2 +0,0 @@
-# Ignore anything in here, but keep this directory
-*
diff --git a/tests/UnitTests/SmartyMethodsTests/GetTemplateVars/templates_c/.gitignore b/tests/UnitTests/SmartyMethodsTests/GetTemplateVars/templates_c/.gitignore
deleted file mode 100644
index d88cc1446..000000000
--- a/tests/UnitTests/SmartyMethodsTests/GetTemplateVars/templates_c/.gitignore
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,2 +0,0 @@
-# Ignore anything in here, but keep this directory
-*
diff --git a/tests/UnitTests/SmartyMethodsTests/GetTemplateVars/GetTemplateVarsTest.php b/tests/UnitTests/SmartyMethodsTests/TemplateVars/GetTemplateVarsTest.php
similarity index 100%
rename from tests/UnitTests/SmartyMethodsTests/GetTemplateVars/GetTemplateVarsTest.php
rename to tests/UnitTests/SmartyMethodsTests/TemplateVars/GetTemplateVarsTest.php
diff --git a/tests/UnitTests/SmartyMethodsTests/TemplateVars/HasVariableTest.php b/tests/UnitTests/SmartyMethodsTests/TemplateVars/HasVariableTest.php
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..047af7b90
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/UnitTests/SmartyMethodsTests/TemplateVars/HasVariableTest.php
@@ -0,0 +1,32 @@
+<?php
+
+/**
+ * Tests the ::hasVariable method
+ */
+class HasVariableTest extends PHPUnit_Smarty
+{
+	public function setUp(): void
+	{
+		$this->setUpSmarty(__DIR__);
+	}
+
+
+	public function testInit()
+	{
+		$this->cleanDirs();
+	}
+
+	public function testSimpleTrue()
+	{
+		$this->smarty->assign('foo', 'bar');
+		$this->assertTrue($this->smarty->hasVariable('foo'));
+	}
+
+
+	public function testSimpleFalse()
+	{
+		$this->smarty->assign('foo', 'bar');
+		$this->assertFalse($this->smarty->hasVariable('foox'));
+	}
+
+}