1 files changed, 3 insertions, 2 deletions
diff --git a/findutils/grep.c b/findutils/grep.c
index 5b8644c36..84a6f7b1c 100644
--- a/findutils/grep.c
+++ b/findutils/grep.c
@@ -762,8 +762,9 @@ int grep_main(int argc UNUSED_PARAM, char **argv)
        if (option_mask32 & OPT_f) {
                load_regexes_from_file(fopt);
                if (!pattern_head) { /* -f EMPTY_FILE? */
-                        /* GNU grep treats it as "nothing matches" */
+                        /* GNU grep treats it as "nothing matches" except when -x */
-                        llist_add_to(&pattern_head, new_grep_list_data((char*) "", 0));
+                        const char *data = (option_mask32 & OPT_x) ? ".*" : "";
+                        llist_add_to(&pattern_head, new_grep_list_data((char*)data, 0));
                        invert_search ^= 1;
                }
        }