diff --git a/builtin/ls-files.c b/builtin/ls-files.c
index dc4a6aa3d951b4..c6126eae550beb 100644
--- a/builtin/ls-files.c
+++ b/builtin/ls-files.c
@@ -362,7 +362,7 @@ static void prune_index(struct index_state *istate,
 	int pos;
 	unsigned int first, last;
 
-	if (!prefix)
+	if (!prefix || !istate->cache_nr)
 		return;
 	pos = index_name_pos(istate, prefix, prefixlen);
 	if (pos < 0)