diff --git a/builtin/sparse-checkout.c b/builtin/sparse-checkout.c
index c8ad302e1aa5d1..a0c8a1499afae1 100644
--- a/builtin/sparse-checkout.c
+++ b/builtin/sparse-checkout.c
@@ -735,7 +735,7 @@ static void sanitize_paths(int argc, const char **argv,
 		if (core_sparse_checkout_cone)
 			die(_("'%s' is not a directory; to treat it as a directory anyway, rerun with --skip-checks"), argv[i]);
 		else
-			die(_("pass a leading slash before paths such as '%s' if you want a single file (see NON-CONE PROBLEMS in the git-sparse-checkout manual)."), argv[i]);
+			warning(_("pass a leading slash before paths such as '%s' if you want a single file (see NON-CONE PROBLEMS in the git-sparse-checkout manual)."), argv[i]);
 	}
 }
 
diff --git a/t/t1091-sparse-checkout-builtin.sh b/t/t1091-sparse-checkout-builtin.sh
index 770610eba816c8..421127d99c2c6c 100755
--- a/t/t1091-sparse-checkout-builtin.sh
+++ b/t/t1091-sparse-checkout-builtin.sh
@@ -387,7 +387,7 @@ test_expect_success 'revert to old sparse-checkout on empty update' '
 		git sparse-checkout set nothing 2>err &&
 		test_i18ngrep ! "Sparse checkout leaves no entry on working directory" err &&
 		test_i18ngrep ! ".git/index.lock" err &&
-		git sparse-checkout set /file
+		git sparse-checkout set file
 	)
 '
 
@@ -848,9 +848,9 @@ test_expect_success 'by default, cone mode will error out when passed files' '
 
 test_expect_success 'by default, non-cone mode will warn on individual files' '
 	git -C repo sparse-checkout reapply --no-cone &&
-	test_must_fail git -C repo sparse-checkout add .gitignore 2>error &&
+	git -C repo sparse-checkout add .gitignore 2>warning &&
 
-	grep "pass a leading slash before paths.*if you want a single file" error
+	grep "pass a leading slash before paths.*if you want a single file" warning
 '
 
 test_done
diff --git a/t/t3602-rm-sparse-checkout.sh b/t/t3602-rm-sparse-checkout.sh
index 4bd2895206a83f..034ec010910c16 100755
--- a/t/t3602-rm-sparse-checkout.sh
+++ b/t/t3602-rm-sparse-checkout.sh
@@ -30,7 +30,7 @@ test_expect_success 'setup' "
 for opt in "" -f --dry-run
 do
 	test_expect_success "rm${opt:+ $opt} does not remove sparse entries" '
-		git sparse-checkout set /a &&
+		git sparse-checkout set a &&
 		test_must_fail git rm $opt b 2>stderr &&
 		test_cmp b_error_and_hint stderr &&
 		git ls-files --error-unmatch b
@@ -70,14 +70,14 @@ test_expect_success 'recursive rm --sparse removes sparse entries' '
 
 test_expect_success 'rm obeys advice.updateSparsePath' '
 	git reset --hard &&
-	git sparse-checkout set /a &&
+	git sparse-checkout set a &&
 	test_must_fail git -c advice.updateSparsePath=false rm b 2>stderr &&
 	test_cmp sparse_entry_b_error stderr
 '
 
 test_expect_success 'do not advice about sparse entries when they do not match the pathspec' '
 	git reset --hard &&
-	git sparse-checkout set /a &&
+	git sparse-checkout set a &&
 	test_must_fail git rm nonexistent 2>stderr &&
 	grep "fatal: pathspec .nonexistent. did not match any files" stderr &&
 	! grep -F -f sparse_error_header stderr
@@ -85,7 +85,7 @@ test_expect_success 'do not advice about sparse entries when they do not match t
 
 test_expect_success 'do not warn about sparse entries when pathspec matches dense entries' '
 	git reset --hard &&
-	git sparse-checkout set /a &&
+	git sparse-checkout set a &&
 	git rm "[ba]" 2>stderr &&
 	test_must_be_empty stderr &&
 	git ls-files --error-unmatch b &&
@@ -94,7 +94,7 @@ test_expect_success 'do not warn about sparse entries when pathspec matches dens
 
 test_expect_success 'do not warn about sparse entries with --ignore-unmatch' '
 	git reset --hard &&
-	git sparse-checkout set /a &&
+	git sparse-checkout set a &&
 	git rm --ignore-unmatch b 2>stderr &&
 	test_must_be_empty stderr &&
 	git ls-files --error-unmatch b
@@ -102,7 +102,7 @@ test_expect_success 'do not warn about sparse entries with --ignore-unmatch' '
 
 test_expect_success 'refuse to rm a non-skip-worktree path outside sparse cone' '
 	git reset --hard &&
-	git sparse-checkout set /a &&
+	git sparse-checkout set a &&
 	git update-index --no-skip-worktree b &&
 	test_must_fail git rm b 2>stderr &&
 	test_cmp b_error_and_hint stderr &&
diff --git a/t/t6428-merge-conflicts-sparse.sh b/t/t6428-merge-conflicts-sparse.sh
index 6dd7b073bc7886..7e8bf497f821da 100755
--- a/t/t6428-merge-conflicts-sparse.sh
+++ b/t/t6428-merge-conflicts-sparse.sh
@@ -87,7 +87,7 @@ test_expect_success 'conflicting entries written to worktree even if sparse' '
 		test_path_is_file numerals &&
 
 		git sparse-checkout init &&
-		git sparse-checkout set /README &&
+		git sparse-checkout set README &&
 
 		test_path_is_file README &&
 		test_path_is_missing numerals &&
@@ -123,7 +123,7 @@ test_expect_merge_algorithm failure success 'present-despite-SKIP_WORKTREE handl
 		test_path_is_file numerals &&
 
 		git sparse-checkout init &&
-		git sparse-checkout set /README &&
+		git sparse-checkout set README &&
 
 		test_path_is_file README &&
 		test_path_is_missing numerals &&
diff --git a/t/t7002-mv-sparse-checkout.sh b/t/t7002-mv-sparse-checkout.sh
index 63ad7c087c84b9..1d3d2aca21c70e 100755
--- a/t/t7002-mv-sparse-checkout.sh
+++ b/t/t7002-mv-sparse-checkout.sh
@@ -27,7 +27,7 @@ test_expect_success 'setup' "
 test_expect_success 'mv refuses to move sparse-to-sparse' '
 	test_when_finished rm -f e &&
 	git reset --hard &&
-	git sparse-checkout set /a &&
+	git sparse-checkout set a &&
 	touch b &&
 	test_must_fail git mv b e 2>stderr &&
 	cat sparse_error_header >expect &&
@@ -42,7 +42,7 @@ test_expect_success 'mv refuses to move sparse-to-sparse' '
 test_expect_success 'mv refuses to move sparse-to-sparse, ignores failure' '
 	test_when_finished rm -f b c e &&
 	git reset --hard &&
-	git sparse-checkout set /a &&
+	git sparse-checkout set a &&
 
 	# tracked-to-untracked
 	touch b &&
@@ -81,7 +81,7 @@ test_expect_success 'mv refuses to move sparse-to-sparse, ignores failure' '
 test_expect_success 'mv refuses to move non-sparse-to-sparse' '
 	test_when_finished rm -f b c e &&
 	git reset --hard &&
-	git sparse-checkout set /a &&
+	git sparse-checkout set a &&
 
 	# tracked-to-untracked
 	test_must_fail git mv a e 2>stderr &&
@@ -115,7 +115,7 @@ test_expect_success 'mv refuses to move non-sparse-to-sparse' '
 test_expect_success 'mv refuses to move sparse-to-non-sparse' '
 	test_when_finished rm -f b c e &&
 	git reset --hard &&
-	git sparse-checkout set /a e &&
+	git sparse-checkout set a e &&
 
 	# tracked-to-untracked
 	touch b &&
@@ -187,7 +187,7 @@ test_expect_success 'recursive mv refuses to move sparse' '
 test_expect_success 'can move files to non-sparse dir' '
 	git reset --hard &&
 	git sparse-checkout init --no-cone &&
-	git sparse-checkout set /a /b /c /w !/x y/ &&
+	git sparse-checkout set a b c w !/x y/ &&
 	mkdir -p w x/y &&
 
 	git mv a w/new-a 2>stderr &&
@@ -198,7 +198,7 @@ test_expect_success 'can move files to non-sparse dir' '
 test_expect_success 'refuse to move file to non-skip-worktree sparse path' '
 	git reset --hard &&
 	git sparse-checkout init --no-cone &&
-	git sparse-checkout set /a !/x y/ !x/y/z &&
+	git sparse-checkout set a !/x y/ !x/y/z &&
 	mkdir -p x/y/z &&
 
 	test_must_fail git mv a x/y/z/new-a 2>stderr &&
diff --git a/t/t7817-grep-sparse-checkout.sh b/t/t7817-grep-sparse-checkout.sh
index e58b5a75fbcd25..590b99bbb6f7bb 100755
--- a/t/t7817-grep-sparse-checkout.sh
+++ b/t/t7817-grep-sparse-checkout.sh
@@ -66,7 +66,7 @@ test_expect_success 'setup' '
 	git add a b dir &&
 	git commit -m super &&
 	git sparse-checkout init --no-cone &&
-	git sparse-checkout set "/*" "!b" "!/*/" "/sub" &&
+	git sparse-checkout set "/*" "!b" "!/*/" "sub" &&
 
 	git tag -am tag-to-commit tag-to-commit HEAD &&
 	tree=$(git rev-parse HEAD^{tree}) &&