diff --git a/lib/ansible/cli/adhoc.py b/lib/ansible/cli/adhoc.py
index 7a3e208f368..dcb65ad135f 100644
--- a/lib/ansible/cli/adhoc.py
+++ b/lib/ansible/cli/adhoc.py
@@ -124,13 +124,17 @@ class AdHocCLI(CLI):
         inventory = Inventory(loader=loader, variable_manager=variable_manager, host_list=self.options.inventory)
         variable_manager.set_inventory(inventory)
 
+        no_hosts = False
+        if len(inventory.list_hosts(pattern)) == 0:
+            # Empty inventory
+            display.warning("provided hosts list is empty, only localhost is available")
+            no_hosts = True
 
-        if self.options.subset:
-            inventory.subset(self.options.subset)
-
+        inventory.subset(self.options.subset)
         hosts = inventory.list_hosts(pattern)
-        if len(hosts) == 0:
-            raise AnsibleError("Specified hosts options do not match any hosts")
+        if len(hosts) == 0 and no_hosts is False:
+            # Invalid limit
+            raise AnsibleError("Specified --limit does not match any hosts")
 
         if self.options.listhosts:
             display.display('  hosts (%d):' % len(hosts))