diff --git a/src/atom-application.coffee b/src/atom-application.coffee
index 2d3bb244f..f094dac4e 100644
--- a/src/atom-application.coffee
+++ b/src/atom-application.coffee
@@ -221,9 +221,10 @@ class AtomApplication
   #    + devMode:
   #      Boolean to control the opened window's dev mode.
   openPath: ({pathToOpen, pidToKillWhenClosed, newWindow, devMode}={}) ->
-    [basename, initialLine] = path.basename(pathToOpen).split(':')
-    pathToOpen = "#{path.dirname(pathToOpen)}/#{basename}"
-    initialLine -= 1 if initialLine # Convert line numbers to a base of 0
+    if pathToOpen
+      [basename, initialLine] = path.basename(pathToOpen).split(':')
+      pathToOpen = "#{path.dirname(pathToOpen)}/#{basename}"
+      initialLine -= 1 if initialLine # Convert line numbers to a base of 0
 
     unless devMode
       existingWindow = @windowForPath(pathToOpen) unless pidToKillWhenClosed or newWindow