diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index 95d1d2d3f42..6667b769a57 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -41,6 +41,7 @@ Ansible Changes By Release
 * Fix extended file attributes detection and changing:
   (https://github.com/ansible/ansible/pull/18731)
 * correctly ensure 'ungrouped' membership rules (https://github.com/ansible/ansible/pull/33878)
+* made warnings less noisy when empty/no inventory is supplied (https://github.com/ansible/ansible/pull/32806)
 
 
 <a id="2.4.2"></a>
diff --git a/lib/ansible/cli/__init__.py b/lib/ansible/cli/__init__.py
index 9aef05e772e..6607163bac7 100644
--- a/lib/ansible/cli/__init__.py
+++ b/lib/ansible/cli/__init__.py
@@ -798,3 +798,20 @@ class CLI(with_metaclass(ABCMeta, object)):
         variable_manager.options_vars = load_options_vars(options, CLI.version_info(gitinfo=False))
 
         return loader, inventory, variable_manager
+
+    @staticmethod
+    def get_host_list(inventory, subset, pattern='all'):
+
+        no_hosts = False
+        if len(inventory.list_hosts()) == 0:
+            # Empty inventory
+            display.warning("provided hosts list is empty, only localhost is available. Note that the implicit localhost does not match 'all'")
+            no_hosts = True
+
+        inventory.subset(subset)
+
+        hosts = inventory.list_hosts(pattern)
+        if len(hosts) == 0 and no_hosts is False:
+            raise AnsibleError("Specified hosts and/or --limit does not match any hosts")
+
+        return hosts
diff --git a/lib/ansible/cli/adhoc.py b/lib/ansible/cli/adhoc.py
index 54587912e3f..2be6e0b03e6 100644
--- a/lib/ansible/cli/adhoc.py
+++ b/lib/ansible/cli/adhoc.py
@@ -110,19 +110,13 @@ class AdHocCLI(CLI):
 
         loader, inventory, variable_manager = self._play_prereqs(self.options)
 
-        no_hosts = False
-        if len(inventory.list_hosts()) == 0:
-            # Empty inventory
-            display.warning("provided hosts list is empty, only localhost is available")
-            no_hosts = True
-
-        inventory.subset(self.options.subset)
-        hosts = inventory.list_hosts(pattern)
-        if len(hosts) == 0:
-            if no_hosts is False and self.options.subset:
-                # Invalid limit
-                raise AnsibleError("Specified --limit does not match any hosts")
+        try:
+            hosts = CLI.get_host_list(inventory, self.options.subset, pattern)
+        except AnsibleError:
+            if self.options.subset:
+                raise
             else:
+                hosts = []
                 display.warning("No hosts matched, nothing to do")
 
         if self.options.listhosts:
diff --git a/lib/ansible/cli/console.py b/lib/ansible/cli/console.py
index bec0c929520..27dd0bdd8df 100644
--- a/lib/ansible/cli/console.py
+++ b/lib/ansible/cli/console.py
@@ -425,16 +425,7 @@ class ConsoleCLI(CLI, cmd.Cmd):
                                                  ask_vault_pass=self.options.ask_vault_pass)
         self.loader.set_vault_secrets(vault_secrets)
 
-        no_hosts = False
-        if len(self.inventory.list_hosts()) == 0:
-            # Empty inventory
-            no_hosts = True
-            display.warning("provided hosts list is empty, only localhost is available")
-
-        self.inventory.subset(self.options.subset)
-        hosts = self.inventory.list_hosts(self.pattern)
-        if len(hosts) == 0 and not no_hosts:
-            raise AnsibleError("Specified hosts and/or --limit does not match any hosts")
+        hosts = CLI.get_host_list(self.inventory, self.options.subset, self.pattern)
 
         self.groups = self.inventory.list_groups()
         self.hosts = [x.name for x in hosts]
diff --git a/lib/ansible/cli/playbook.py b/lib/ansible/cli/playbook.py
index d6482c910bb..1cbf3e80876 100644
--- a/lib/ansible/cli/playbook.py
+++ b/lib/ansible/cli/playbook.py
@@ -109,15 +109,7 @@ class PlaybookCLI(CLI):
         # limit if only implicit localhost was in inventory to start with.
         #
         # Fix this when we rewrite inventory by making localhost a real host (and thus show up in list_hosts())
-        no_hosts = False
-        if len(inventory.list_hosts()) == 0:
-            # Empty inventory
-            display.warning("provided hosts list is empty, only localhost is available")
-            no_hosts = True
-        inventory.subset(self.options.subset)
-        if len(inventory.list_hosts()) == 0 and no_hosts is False:
-            # Invalid limit
-            raise AnsibleError("Specified --limit does not match any hosts")
+        hosts = CLI.get_host_list(inventory, self.options.subset)
 
         # flush fact cache if requested
         if self.options.flush_cache:
diff --git a/lib/ansible/inventory/manager.py b/lib/ansible/inventory/manager.py
index 6c25d90ded8..237bd1ae806 100644
--- a/lib/ansible/inventory/manager.py
+++ b/lib/ansible/inventory/manager.py
@@ -539,7 +539,7 @@ class InventoryManager(object):
             if implicit:
                 results.append(implicit)
 
-        if not results:
+        if not results and pattern != 'all':
             display.warning("Could not match supplied host pattern, ignoring: %s" % pattern)
         return results