diff --git a/sql/core/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/execution/datasources/csv/CSVDataSource.scala b/sql/core/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/execution/datasources/csv/CSVDataSource.scala
index 63af18ec5b8eba3757926fc884ce7ad11b680e65..83bdf6fe224be20a7950f0d371d175c1f9516837 100644
--- a/sql/core/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/execution/datasources/csv/CSVDataSource.scala
+++ b/sql/core/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/execution/datasources/csv/CSVDataSource.scala
@@ -54,10 +54,21 @@ abstract class CSVDataSource extends Serializable {
   /**
    * Infers the schema from `inputPaths` files.
    */
-  def infer(
+  final def inferSchema(
       sparkSession: SparkSession,
       inputPaths: Seq[FileStatus],
-      parsedOptions: CSVOptions): Option[StructType]
+      parsedOptions: CSVOptions): Option[StructType] = {
+    if (inputPaths.nonEmpty) {
+      Some(infer(sparkSession, inputPaths, parsedOptions))
+    } else {
+      None
+    }
+  }
+
+  protected def infer(
+      sparkSession: SparkSession,
+      inputPaths: Seq[FileStatus],
+      parsedOptions: CSVOptions): StructType
 
   /**
    * Generates a header from the given row which is null-safe and duplicate-safe.
@@ -131,10 +142,10 @@ object TextInputCSVDataSource extends CSVDataSource {
   override def infer(
       sparkSession: SparkSession,
       inputPaths: Seq[FileStatus],
-      parsedOptions: CSVOptions): Option[StructType] = {
+      parsedOptions: CSVOptions): StructType = {
     val csv = createBaseDataset(sparkSession, inputPaths, parsedOptions)
     val maybeFirstLine = CSVUtils.filterCommentAndEmpty(csv, parsedOptions).take(1).headOption
-    Some(inferFromDataset(sparkSession, csv, maybeFirstLine, parsedOptions))
+    inferFromDataset(sparkSession, csv, maybeFirstLine, parsedOptions)
   }
 
   /**
@@ -203,7 +214,7 @@ object WholeFileCSVDataSource extends CSVDataSource {
   override def infer(
       sparkSession: SparkSession,
       inputPaths: Seq[FileStatus],
-      parsedOptions: CSVOptions): Option[StructType] = {
+      parsedOptions: CSVOptions): StructType = {
     val csv = createBaseRdd(sparkSession, inputPaths, parsedOptions)
     csv.flatMap { lines =>
       UnivocityParser.tokenizeStream(
@@ -222,10 +233,10 @@ object WholeFileCSVDataSource extends CSVDataSource {
             parsedOptions.headerFlag,
             new CsvParser(parsedOptions.asParserSettings))
         }
-        Some(CSVInferSchema.infer(tokenRDD, header, parsedOptions))
+        CSVInferSchema.infer(tokenRDD, header, parsedOptions)
       case None =>
         // If the first row could not be read, just return the empty schema.
-        Some(StructType(Nil))
+        StructType(Nil)
     }
   }
 
diff --git a/sql/core/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/execution/datasources/csv/CSVFileFormat.scala b/sql/core/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/execution/datasources/csv/CSVFileFormat.scala
index eef43c7629c12f3c8d7891ef5b98e5fa4cb9576c..a99bdfee5d6e6902ec58248bcf4c251b0f453b56 100644
--- a/sql/core/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/execution/datasources/csv/CSVFileFormat.scala
+++ b/sql/core/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/execution/datasources/csv/CSVFileFormat.scala
@@ -51,12 +51,10 @@ class CSVFileFormat extends TextBasedFileFormat with DataSourceRegister {
       sparkSession: SparkSession,
       options: Map[String, String],
       files: Seq[FileStatus]): Option[StructType] = {
-    require(files.nonEmpty, "Cannot infer schema from an empty set of files")
-
     val parsedOptions =
       new CSVOptions(options, sparkSession.sessionState.conf.sessionLocalTimeZone)
 
-    CSVDataSource(parsedOptions).infer(sparkSession, files, parsedOptions)
+    CSVDataSource(parsedOptions).inferSchema(sparkSession, files, parsedOptions)
   }
 
   override def prepareWrite(
diff --git a/sql/core/src/test/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/test/DataFrameReaderWriterSuite.scala b/sql/core/src/test/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/test/DataFrameReaderWriterSuite.scala
index 8a8ba055345295603ae3c4e493fb9886c1394160..8287776f8f5589bdeb901f70386db96910b1149f 100644
--- a/sql/core/src/test/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/test/DataFrameReaderWriterSuite.scala
+++ b/sql/core/src/test/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/test/DataFrameReaderWriterSuite.scala
@@ -370,9 +370,11 @@ class DataFrameReaderWriterSuite extends QueryTest with SharedSQLContext with Be
     val schema = df.schema
 
     // Reader, without user specified schema
-    intercept[IllegalArgumentException] {
+    val message = intercept[AnalysisException] {
       testRead(spark.read.csv(), Seq.empty, schema)
-    }
+    }.getMessage
+    assert(message.contains("Unable to infer schema for CSV. It must be specified manually."))
+
     testRead(spark.read.csv(dir), data, schema)
     testRead(spark.read.csv(dir, dir), data ++ data, schema)
     testRead(spark.read.csv(Seq(dir, dir): _*), data ++ data, schema)