diff --git a/hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/fs/shell/Ls.java b/hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/fs/shell/Ls.java
index 67348c6c78c18..dc3cf1523ab09 100644
--- a/hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/fs/shell/Ls.java
+++ b/hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/fs/shell/Ls.java
@@ -216,6 +216,10 @@ protected void processPaths(PathData parent, PathData ... items)
       if (!pathOnly) {
         out.println("Found " + items.length + " items");
       }
+      else if (items.length == 0)
+      {
+        out.println("The path is empty.");
+      }
       Arrays.sort(items, getOrderComparator());
     }
     if (!pathOnly) {