diff --git a/crates/nu-command/src/filesystem/ls.rs b/crates/nu-command/src/filesystem/ls.rs
index a595f4f506..c28af6ba5e 100644
--- a/crates/nu-command/src/filesystem/ls.rs
+++ b/crates/nu-command/src/filesystem/ls.rs
@@ -90,6 +90,13 @@ impl Command for Ls {
         let pattern_arg = opt_for_glob_pattern(engine_state, stack, call, 0)?;
         let pattern_arg = {
             if let Some(path) = pattern_arg {
+                // it makes no sense to list an empty string.
+                if path.item.as_ref().is_empty() {
+                    return Err(ShellError::FileNotFoundCustom {
+                        msg: "empty string('') directory or file does not exist".to_string(),
+                        span: path.span,
+                    });
+                }
                 match path.item {
                     NuGlob::DoNotExpand(p) => Some(Spanned {
                         item: NuGlob::DoNotExpand(nu_utils::strip_ansi_string_unlikely(p)),
diff --git a/crates/nu-command/tests/commands/ls.rs b/crates/nu-command/tests/commands/ls.rs
index 2fd1f3e216..14fd2d69ef 100644
--- a/crates/nu-command/tests/commands/ls.rs
+++ b/crates/nu-command/tests/commands/ls.rs
@@ -701,3 +701,13 @@ fn list_flag_false() {
         assert_eq!(actual.out, "false");
     })
 }
+
+#[test]
+fn list_empty_string() {
+    Playground::setup("ls_empty_string", |dirs, sandbox| {
+        sandbox.with_files(vec![EmptyFile("yehuda.txt")]);
+
+        let actual = nu!(cwd: dirs.test(), "ls ''");
+        assert!(actual.err.contains("does not exist"));
+    })
+}