diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index c3b72478..630cfa17 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -84,6 +84,8 @@ Bug fixes:
   Upgrade `grep` crate to `regex-syntax 0.5.0`.
 * [BUG #893](https://github.com/BurntSushi/ripgrep/issues/893):
   Improve support for git submodules.
+* [BUG #900](https://github.com/BurntSushi/ripgrep/issues/900):
+  When no patterns are given, ripgrep should never match anything.
 * [BUG #907](https://github.com/BurntSushi/ripgrep/issues/907):
   ripgrep will now stop traversing after the first file when `--quiet --files`
   is used.
diff --git a/src/args.rs b/src/args.rs
index 1d7d1a8e..10b9e557 100644
--- a/src/args.rs
+++ b/src/args.rs
@@ -36,6 +36,7 @@ pub struct Args {
     after_context: usize,
     before_context: usize,
     byte_offset: bool,
+    can_match: bool,
     color_choice: termcolor::ColorChoice,
     colors: ColorSpecs,
     column: bool,
@@ -220,10 +221,9 @@ impl Args {
 
     /// Returns true if the given arguments are known to never produce a match.
     pub fn never_match(&self) -> bool {
-        self.max_count == Some(0)
+        !self.can_match || self.max_count == Some(0)
     }
 
-
     /// Returns whether ripgrep should track stats for this run
     pub fn stats(&self) -> bool {
         self.stats
@@ -385,11 +385,13 @@ impl<'a> ArgMatches<'a> {
         let (before_context, after_context) = self.contexts()?;
         let (count, count_matches) = self.counts();
         let quiet = self.is_present("quiet");
+        let (grep, can_match) = self.grep()?;
         let args = Args {
             paths: paths,
             after_context: after_context,
             before_context: before_context,
             byte_offset: self.is_present("byte-offset"),
+            can_match: can_match,
             color_choice: self.color_choice(),
             colors: self.color_specs()?,
             column: self.column(),
@@ -403,7 +405,7 @@ impl<'a> ArgMatches<'a> {
             files: self.is_present("files"),
             follow: self.is_present("follow"),
             glob_overrides: self.overrides()?,
-            grep: self.grep()?,
+            grep: grep,
             heading: self.heading(),
             hidden: self.hidden(),
             ignore_files: self.ignore_files(),
@@ -491,17 +493,6 @@ impl<'a> ArgMatches<'a> {
         }
     }
 
-    /// Return the pattern that should be used for searching.
-    ///
-    /// If multiple -e/--regexp flags are given, then they are all collapsed
-    /// into one pattern.
-    ///
-    /// If any part of the pattern isn't valid UTF-8, then an error is
-    /// returned.
-    fn pattern(&self) -> Result<String> {
-        Ok(self.patterns()?.join("|"))
-    }
-
     /// Get a sequence of all available patterns from the command line.
     /// This includes reading the -e/--regexp and -f/--file flags.
     ///
@@ -551,8 +542,6 @@ impl<'a> ArgMatches<'a> {
         // match first, and we wouldn't get colours in the output
         if self.is_present("passthru") && !self.is_present("count") {
             pats.push("^".to_string())
-        } else if pats.is_empty() {
-            pats.push(self.empty_pattern())
         }
         Ok(pats)
     }
@@ -901,7 +890,10 @@ impl<'a> ArgMatches<'a> {
     ///
     /// If there was a problem extracting the pattern from the command line
     /// flags, then an error is returned.
-    fn grep(&self) -> Result<Grep> {
+    ///
+    /// If no match can ever occur, then `false` is returned. Otherwise,
+    /// `true` is returned.
+    fn grep(&self) -> Result<(Grep, bool)> {
         let smart =
             self.is_present("smart-case")
             && !self.is_present("ignore-case")
@@ -909,7 +901,9 @@ impl<'a> ArgMatches<'a> {
         let casei =
             self.is_present("ignore-case")
             && !self.is_present("case-sensitive");
-        let mut gb = GrepBuilder::new(&self.pattern()?)
+        let pats = self.patterns()?;
+        let ok = !pats.is_empty();
+        let mut gb = GrepBuilder::new(&pats.join("|"))
             .case_smart(smart)
             .case_insensitive(casei)
             .line_terminator(b'\n');
@@ -920,7 +914,7 @@ impl<'a> ArgMatches<'a> {
         if let Some(limit) = self.regex_size_limit()? {
             gb = gb.size_limit(limit);
         }
-        Ok(gb.build()?)
+        Ok((gb.build()?, ok))
     }
 
     /// Builds the set of glob overrides from the command line flags.
diff --git a/tests/tests.rs b/tests/tests.rs
index 8a38f545..e6cc1534 100644
--- a/tests/tests.rs
+++ b/tests/tests.rs
@@ -1320,6 +1320,12 @@ clean!(regression_807, "test", ".", |wd: WorkDir, mut cmd: Command| {
     assert_eq!(lines, format!("{}:test\n", path(".a/c/file")));
 });
 
+// See: https://github.com/BurntSushi/ripgrep/issues/900
+sherlock!(regression_900, "-fpat", "sherlock", |wd: WorkDir, mut cmd: Command| {
+    wd.create("pat", "");
+    wd.assert_err(&mut cmd);
+});
+
 // See: https://github.com/BurntSushi/ripgrep/issues/1
 clean!(feature_1_sjis, "Шерлок Холмс", ".", |wd: WorkDir, mut cmd: Command| {
     let sherlock =