diff --git a/matlab/dynare_config.m b/matlab/dynare_config.m
index 7ca935d04..04225a5b9 100644
--- a/matlab/dynare_config.m
+++ b/matlab/dynare_config.m
@@ -125,6 +125,12 @@ if ~isoctave && matlab_ver_less_than('8.1')
     p{end+1} = '/missing/strjoin';
 end
 
+% contains and splitlines don't exist in Octave and in MATLAB < R2016b
+if isoctave || matlab_ver_less_than('9.1')
+    p{end+1} = '/missing/contains';
+    p{end+1} = '/missing/splitlines';
+end
+
 % isrow, iscolumn and ismatrix are missing in Matlab<R2010b
 if ~isoctave && matlab_ver_less_than('7.11')
     p{end+1} = '/missing/is-row-column-matrix';
diff --git a/matlab/missing/contains/contains.m b/matlab/missing/contains/contains.m
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..56d6f981b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/matlab/missing/contains/contains.m
@@ -0,0 +1,70 @@
+function tf = contains(string, pattern, varargin)
+
+% CONTAINS Returns 1 if the pattern is found in string, and 0 otherwise.
+% 
+% INPUTS
+% - string      [string, char, cell(str)]  String to be searhced.
+% - pattern     [string, char, cell(str)]  The searched pattern. 
+%
+% If 'IgnoreCase',IGNORE is provided, the function ignores case if IGNORE is true. 
+% The default value is false.
+% 
+% OUTPUT
+% - tf   [logical]
+% 
+% Copyright (C) 2019 Dynare Team
+%
+% This file is part of Dynare.
+%
+% Dynare is free software: you can redistribute it and/or modify
+% it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by
+% the Free Software Foundation, either version 3 of the License, or
+% (at your option) any later version.
+%
+% Dynare is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
+% but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
+% MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the
+% GNU General Public License for more details.
+%
+% You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
+% along with Dynare.  If not, see <http://www.gnu.org/licenses/>.
+
+if mod(nargin,2) ~= 0
+    error('contains: inputs should be a text, followed by the queried patterns, then Name-Value pair arguments.');
+end
+
+if ~((ischar(string) || isstring(string) || iscellstr(string)) && (ischar(pattern) || isstring(pattern) || iscellstr(pattern)))
+    error('contains: first and second input arguments must be a string array, char array or cell array');
+end
+
+if ~isempty(varargin)
+    if ~ischar(varargin{1})
+        error('The #%d and #%d inputs must be a Name-Value pair.', nargin-1, nargin);
+    end
+    parameters = {'ignorecase', 'caseignore','insensitivecase', 'caseinsensitive','insensitive','ignore',...
+                  'casesensitive', 'sensitive', 'sensitivecase'};
+    if ~cellfun('isempty',(cellfun(@(s)strcmpi(varargin{1}, s), parameters, 'uni', 0)))
+        case_ignore = varargin{end};
+    else
+        error('Unsupported parameter "%s".', varargin{1});
+    end
+else
+    case_ignore = false;
+end
+
+string = cellstr(string);
+pattern = cellstr(pattern);
+
+if case_ignore
+    string = lower(string);
+    pattern = lower(pattern);
+end
+
+tf = false(size(string));
+for ii = 1:numel(pattern)
+    idx = regexp(string, pattern{ii});
+    for jj = 1:numel(string)
+        tf(jj) = tf(jj) || ~isempty(idx{jj});
+    end
+end
+end
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/matlab/missing/splitlines/splitlines.m b/matlab/missing/splitlines/splitlines.m
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..e08cd5515
--- /dev/null
+++ b/matlab/missing/splitlines/splitlines.m
@@ -0,0 +1,32 @@
+function s = splitlines(string)
+
+% SPLITLINES splits strings at newline characters into a string array.
+% 
+% INPUT
+% - string   [string]  String to be splitted with newline characters.
+%
+% OUTPUT
+% - s   [string]
+%
+% Copyright (C) 2019 Dynare Team
+%
+% This file is part of Dynare.
+%
+% Dynare is free software: you can redistribute it and/or modify
+% it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by
+% the Free Software Foundation, either version 3 of the License, or
+% (at your option) any later version.
+%
+% Dynare is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
+% but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
+% MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the
+% GNU General Public License for more details.
+%
+% You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
+% along with Dynare.  If not, see <http://www.gnu.org/licenses/>.
+
+assert(ischar(string) && ndims(string)==2 && size(string,1)<=1, 'The first argument has to be a row char array!');
+
+s = strsplit(string, '\n');
+s = reshape(s,size(s, 2), size(s,1));
+end
\ No newline at end of file