diff --git a/dlibrary/dlibrary.py b/dlibrary/dlibrary.py
index 6344f9b..a08ccbc 100755
--- a/dlibrary/dlibrary.py
+++ b/dlibrary/dlibrary.py
@@ -266,6 +266,8 @@ class Collator:
         self.index = 0
 
     def collate_from_paths(self, srcs):
+        srcs = [src for src in srcs if len(descendant_files_ignore(src, self.exclude)) > 0]
+
         if len(srcs) == 1 and srcs[0].is_dir():
             return self.collate_from_paths(ls_ignore(srcs[0], self.exclude))