diff --git a/core/filter-options/__tests__/get-filtered-packages.test.js b/core/filter-options/__tests__/get-filtered-packages.test.js
index 32c451d34d..4407e656b7 100644
--- a/core/filter-options/__tests__/get-filtered-packages.test.js
+++ b/core/filter-options/__tests__/get-filtered-packages.test.js
@@ -90,6 +90,20 @@ test.each`
   expect.hasAssertions();
 });
 
+test.each`
+  argv
+  ${["--scope", "not-a-package", "--continue-if-no-match"]}
+  ${["--ignore", "package-*", "--continue-if-no-match"]}
+  ${["--scope", "package-@(1|2)", "--ignore", "package-{1,2}", "--continue-if-no-match"]}
+`("no errors and no packages $argv", async ({ argv }) => {
+  const packageGraph = await buildGraph(cwd);
+  const execOpts = { cwd };
+  const options = parseOptions(...argv);
+
+  const result = await getFilteredPackages(packageGraph, execOpts, options);
+  expect(result).toHaveLength(0);
+});
+
 test("--since returns all packages if no tag is found", async () => {
   const packageGraph = await buildGraph(cwd);
   const execOpts = { cwd };
diff --git a/core/filter-options/index.js b/core/filter-options/index.js
index facba7856b..d1c7d016fc 100644
--- a/core/filter-options/index.js
+++ b/core/filter-options/index.js
@@ -49,6 +49,11 @@ function filterOptions(yargs) {
       `,
       type: "boolean",
     },
+    "continue-if-no-match": {
+      describe: "Don't fail if no package is matched",
+      hidden: true,
+      type: "boolean",
+    },
   };
 
   return yargs.options(opts).group(Object.keys(opts), "Filter Options:");
diff --git a/core/filter-options/lib/get-filtered-packages.js b/core/filter-options/lib/get-filtered-packages.js
index 79bd3c0579..1e5e961943 100644
--- a/core/filter-options/lib/get-filtered-packages.js
+++ b/core/filter-options/lib/get-filtered-packages.js
@@ -9,7 +9,13 @@ function getFilteredPackages(packageGraph, execOpts, options) {
   let chain = Promise.resolve();
 
   chain = chain.then(() =>
-    filterPackages(packageGraph.rawPackageList, options.scope, options.ignore, options.private)
+    filterPackages(
+      packageGraph.rawPackageList,
+      options.scope,
+      options.ignore,
+      options.private,
+      options.continueIfNoMatch
+    )
   );
 
   if (options.since !== undefined) {
diff --git a/utils/filter-packages/filter-packages.js b/utils/filter-packages/filter-packages.js
index fb7692c8b3..eb2478d283 100644
--- a/utils/filter-packages/filter-packages.js
+++ b/utils/filter-packages/filter-packages.js
@@ -16,10 +16,11 @@ module.exports = filterPackages;
  * @param {Array.<String>} include A list of globs to match the package name against
  * @param {Array.<String>} exclude A list of globs to filter the package name against
  * @param {Boolean} showPrivate When false, filter out private packages
+ * @param {Boolean} continueIfNoMatch When true, do not throw if no package is matched
  * @return {Array.<Package>} The packages with a name matching the glob
- * @throws when a given glob would produce an empty list of packages
+ * @throws when a given glob would produce an empty list of packages and `continueIfNoMatch` is not set.
  */
-function filterPackages(packagesToFilter, include = [], exclude = [], showPrivate) {
+function filterPackages(packagesToFilter, include = [], exclude = [], showPrivate, continueIfNoMatch) {
   const filtered = new Set(packagesToFilter);
   const patterns = [].concat(arrify(include), negate(exclude));
 
@@ -49,7 +50,7 @@ function filterPackages(packagesToFilter, include = [], exclude = [], showPrivat
       }
     }
 
-    if (!filtered.size) {
+    if (!filtered.size && !continueIfNoMatch) {
       throw new ValidationError("EFILTER", util.format("No packages remain after filtering", patterns));
     }
   }