diff --git a/internetarchive/iacli/ia_delete.py b/internetarchive/iacli/ia_delete.py
index <HASH>..<HASH> 100755
--- a/internetarchive/iacli/ia_delete.py
+++ b/internetarchive/iacli/ia_delete.py
@@ -56,6 +56,10 @@ def main(argv):
 
         files = [f for f in [item.get_file(f) for f in fnames] if f]
 
+    if not files:
+        sys.stderr.write(' warning: no files found, nothing deleted.\n')
+        sys.exit(1)
+
     for f in files:
         if not f:
             if verbose:
better error message if no file is found to delete.