diff --git a/src/Runner.php b/src/Runner.php
index db0e26d91b..24d1d3009a 100644
--- a/src/Runner.php
+++ b/src/Runner.php
@@ -351,7 +351,7 @@ private function run()
         }
 
         $numFiles = count($todo);
-        if ($numFiles === 0) {
+        if ($numFiles === 0 && Config::getConfigData('allow_empty_file_list') !== '1') {
             $error  = 'ERROR: No files were checked.' . PHP_EOL;
             $error .= 'All specified files were excluded or did not match filtering rules.' . PHP_EOL . PHP_EOL;
             throw new DeepExitException($error, ExitCode::PROCESS_ERROR);
diff --git a/src/Util/Help.php b/src/Util/Help.php
index c9faf71d76..323afbe467 100644
--- a/src/Util/Help.php
+++ b/src/Util/Help.php
@@ -579,7 +579,7 @@ private function getAllOptions()
 
             'config-explain' => [
                 'text' => 'Default values for a selection of options can be stored in a user-specific CodeSniffer.conf configuration file.' . "\n"
-                    . 'This applies to the following options: "default_standard", "report_format", "tab_width", "encoding", "severity", "error_severity", "warning_severity", "show_warnings", "report_width", "show_progress", "quiet", "colors", "cache", "parallel", "installed_paths", "php_version", "ignore_errors_on_exit", "ignore_warnings_on_exit", "ignore_non_auto_fixable_on_exit".',
+                    . 'This applies to the following options: "default_standard", "report_format", "tab_width", "encoding", "severity", "error_severity", "warning_severity", "show_warnings", "report_width", "show_progress", "quiet", "colors", "cache", "parallel", "installed_paths", "php_version", "ignore_errors_on_exit", "ignore_warnings_on_exit", "ignore_non_auto_fixable_on_exit", "allow_empty_file_list".',
             ],
             'config-show'    => [
                 'argument'    => '--config-show',
diff --git a/tests/Core/Runner/RunAllFilesExcludedErrorTest.php b/tests/Core/Runner/RunAllFilesExcludedErrorTest.php
index c38420cdae..145ecf32d9 100644
--- a/tests/Core/Runner/RunAllFilesExcludedErrorTest.php
+++ b/tests/Core/Runner/RunAllFilesExcludedErrorTest.php
@@ -73,6 +73,67 @@ public function testPhpcbf($sourceDir, $extraArgs)
     }
 
 
+    /**
+     * Verify that the "All files were excluded" error message is not shown when all files are excluded and it is
+     * allowed via --allow-empty-file-list (PHPCS).
+     *
+     * @param string        $sourceDir The (fixture) directory to scan for files.
+     * @param array<string> $extraArgs Any extra arguments to pass on the command line.
+     *
+     * @dataProvider data
+     *
+     * @return void
+     */
+    public function testPhpcsAllowEmpty($sourceDir, $extraArgs)
+    {
+        if (PHP_CODESNIFFER_CBF === true) {
+            $this->markTestSkipped('This test needs CS mode to run');
+        }
+
+        $extraArgs[] = '--runtime-set';
+        $extraArgs[] = 'allow_empty_file_list';
+        $extraArgs[] = '1';
+        $this->setupTest($sourceDir, $extraArgs);
+
+        $runner = new Runner();
+        $runner->runPHPCS();
+
+        $regex = '`^(Time: [0-9]+ms; Memory: [0-9\.]+MB' . PHP_EOL . ')?$`';
+        $this->assertStderrOutputMatchesRegex($regex);
+    }
+
+
+    /**
+     * Verify that the "All files were excluded" error message is not shown when all files are excluded and it is
+     * * allowed via --allow-empty-file-list (PHPCBF).
+     *
+     * @param string        $sourceDir The (fixture) directory to scan for files.
+     * @param array<string> $extraArgs Any extra arguments to pass on the command line.
+     *
+     * @dataProvider data
+     * @group        CBF
+     *
+     * @return void
+     */
+    public function testPhpcbfAllowEmpty($sourceDir, $extraArgs)
+    {
+        if (PHP_CODESNIFFER_CBF === false) {
+            $this->markTestSkipped('This test needs CBF mode to run');
+        }
+
+        $extraArgs[] = '--runtime-set';
+        $extraArgs[] = 'allow_empty_file_list';
+        $extraArgs[] = '1';
+        $this->setupTest($sourceDir, $extraArgs);
+
+        $runner = new Runner();
+        $runner->runPHPCBF();
+
+        $regex = '`^.*No violations were found.*(Time: [0-9]+ms; Memory: [0-9\.]+MB' . PHP_EOL . ')?$`m';
+        $this->assertStderrOutputMatchesRegex($regex);
+    }
+
+
     /**
      * Data provider.
      *