diff --git a/glib/gshell.c b/glib/gshell.c
index 040e2e46b..f59267eb8 100644
--- a/glib/gshell.c
+++ b/glib/gshell.c
@@ -580,6 +580,11 @@ tokenize_command_line (const gchar *command_line,
                      _("Text ended just after a “\\” character."
                        " (The text was “%s”)"),
                      command_line);
+      else if (current_quote == '#')
+        g_set_error (error,
+                     G_SHELL_ERROR,
+                     G_SHELL_ERROR_EMPTY_STRING,
+                     _("Text was empty (or contained only whitespace)"));
       else
         g_set_error (error,
                      G_SHELL_ERROR,
diff --git a/glib/tests/shell.c b/glib/tests/shell.c
index e00228351..80781dbbc 100644
--- a/glib/tests/shell.c
+++ b/glib/tests/shell.c
@@ -67,6 +67,7 @@ static CmdlineTest cmdline_tests[] =
   { "", 0, { NULL }, G_SHELL_ERROR_EMPTY_STRING },
   { "  ", 0, { NULL }, G_SHELL_ERROR_EMPTY_STRING },
   { "# foo bar", 0, { NULL }, G_SHELL_ERROR_EMPTY_STRING },
+  { "#", 0, { NULL }, G_SHELL_ERROR_EMPTY_STRING },
   {"foo '/bar/summer'\\''09 tours.pdf'", 2, {"foo", "/bar/summer'09 tours.pdf", NULL}, -1}
 };