diff -u dmenu-4.4/dmenu.1 dmenu-quiet-4.4/dmenu.1
--- dmenu-4.4/dmenu.1	2011-07-19 22:31:28.000000000 +0200
+++ dmenu-quiet-4.4/dmenu.1	2011-08-05 19:39:31.000000000 +0200
@@ -41,6 +41,9 @@
 .B \-b
 dmenu appears at the bottom of the screen.
 .TP
+.B \-q
+dmenu will not show any items if the search string is empty.
+.TP
 .B \-f
 dmenu grabs the keyboard before reading stdin.  This is faster, but may lock up
 X if stdin is from a terminal.
diff -u dmenu-4.4/dmenu.c dmenu-quiet-4.4/dmenu.c
--- dmenu-4.4/dmenu.c	2011-07-19 22:31:28.000000000 +0200
+++ dmenu-quiet-4.4/dmenu.c	2011-08-05 19:39:31.000000000 +0200
@@ -53,6 +53,7 @@
 static unsigned long selcol[ColLast];
 static Atom utf8;
 static Bool topbar = True;
+static Bool quiet = False;
 static DC *dc;
 static Item *items = NULL;
 static Item *matches, *matchend;
@@ -75,6 +76,8 @@
 		}
 		else if(!strcmp(argv[i], "-b"))
 			topbar = False;
+		else if(!strcmp(argv[i], "-q"))
+			quiet = True;
 		else if(!strcmp(argv[i], "-f"))
 			fast = True;
 		else if(!strcmp(argv[i], "-i")) {
@@ -177,28 +180,30 @@
 	if((curpos = textnw(dc, text, cursor) + dc->h/2 - 2) < dc->w)
 		drawrect(dc, curpos, 2, 1, dc->h - 4, True, FG(dc, normcol));
 
-	if(lines > 0) {
-		dc->w = mw - dc->x;
-		for(item = curr; item != next; item = item->right) {
-			dc->y += dc->h;
-			drawtext(dc, item->text, (item == sel) ? selcol : normcol);
-		}
-	}
-	else if(matches) {
-		dc->x += inputw;
-		dc->w = textw(dc, "<");
-		if(curr->left)
-			drawtext(dc, "<", normcol);
-		for(item = curr; item != next; item = item->right) {
-			dc->x += dc->w;
-			dc->w = MIN(textw(dc, item->text), mw - dc->x - textw(dc, ">"));
-			drawtext(dc, item->text, (item == sel) ? selcol : normcol);
-		}
-		dc->w = textw(dc, ">");
-		dc->x = mw - dc->w;
-		if(next)
-			drawtext(dc, ">", normcol);
-	}
+    if(!quiet || strlen(text) > 0) {    
+        if(lines > 0) {
+            dc->w = mw - dc->x;
+            for(item = curr; item != next; item = item->right) {
+                dc->y += dc->h;
+                drawtext(dc, item->text, (item == sel) ? selcol : normcol);
+            }
+        }
+        else if(matches) {
+            dc->x += inputw;
+            dc->w = textw(dc, "<");
+            if(curr->left)
+                drawtext(dc, "<", normcol);
+            for(item = curr; item != next; item = item->right) {
+                dc->x += dc->w;
+                dc->w = MIN(textw(dc, item->text), mw - dc->x - textw(dc, ">"));
+                drawtext(dc, item->text, (item == sel) ? selcol : normcol);
+            }
+            dc->w = textw(dc, ">");
+            dc->x = mw - dc->w;
+            if(next)
+                drawtext(dc, ">", normcol);
+        }
+    }
 	mapdc(dc, win, mw, mh);
 }
 
@@ -532,7 +537,7 @@
 
 void
 usage(void) {
-	fputs("usage: dmenu [-b] [-f] [-i] [-l lines] [-p prompt] [-fn font]\n"
+	fputs("usage: dmenu [-b] [-q] [-f] [-i] [-l lines] [-p prompt] [-fn font]\n"
 	      "             [-nb color] [-nf color] [-sb color] [-sf color] [-v]\n", stderr);
 	exit(EXIT_FAILURE);
 }