diff --git a/borg/archiver.py b/borg/archiver.py
index e393fad0d..28f1d8a3f 100644
--- a/borg/archiver.py
+++ b/borg/archiver.py
@@ -21,7 +21,7 @@ from .repository import Repository
 from .cache import Cache
 from .key import key_creator
 from .helpers import Error, location_validator, format_time, format_file_size, \
-    format_file_mode, ExcludePattern, exclude_path, adjust_patterns, to_localtime, timestamp, \
+    format_file_mode, ExcludePattern, IncludePattern, exclude_path, adjust_patterns, to_localtime, timestamp, \
     get_cache_dir, get_keys_dir, format_timedelta, prune_within, prune_split, \
     Manifest, remove_surrogates, update_excludes, format_archive, check_extension_modules, Statistics, \
     is_cachedir, bigint_to_int, ChunkerParams, CompressionSpec
@@ -286,6 +286,9 @@ Type "Yes I am sure" if you understand this and want to continue.\n""")
         if not args.dry_run:
             while dirs:
                 archive.extract_item(dirs.pop(-1))
+        for pattern in (patterns or []):
+            if isinstance(pattern, IncludePattern) and  pattern.match_count == 0:
+                self.print_error("Warning: Include pattern '%s' never matched.", pattern)
         return self.exit_code
 
     def do_rename(self, args):
diff --git a/borg/helpers.py b/borg/helpers.py
index 9dab70aa8..f9450c1b8 100644
--- a/borg/helpers.py
+++ b/borg/helpers.py
@@ -242,6 +242,7 @@ def normalized(func):
         # always have to enter an exact match
         return func
 
+
 class IncludePattern:
     """Literal files or directories listed on the command line
     for some operations (e.g. extract, but not create).
@@ -249,6 +250,9 @@ class IncludePattern:
     path match as well.  A trailing slash makes no difference.
     """
     def __init__(self, pattern):
+        self.pattern_orig = pattern
+        self.match_count = 0
+
         if sys.platform in ('darwin',):
             pattern = unicodedata.normalize("NFD", pattern)
 
@@ -256,17 +260,26 @@ class IncludePattern:
 
     @normalized
     def match(self, path):
-        return (path+os.path.sep).startswith(self.pattern)
+        matches = (path+os.path.sep).startswith(self.pattern)
+        if matches:
+            self.match_count += 1
+        return matches
 
     def __repr__(self):
         return '%s(%s)' % (type(self), self.pattern)
 
+    def __str__(self):
+        return self.pattern_orig
+
 
 class ExcludePattern(IncludePattern):
     """Shell glob patterns to exclude.  A trailing slash means to
     exclude the contents of a directory, but not the directory itself.
     """
     def __init__(self, pattern):
+        self.pattern_orig = pattern
+        self.match_count = 0
+
         if pattern.endswith(os.path.sep):
             self.pattern = os.path.normpath(pattern).rstrip(os.path.sep)+os.path.sep+'*'+os.path.sep
         else:
@@ -281,11 +294,17 @@ class ExcludePattern(IncludePattern):
 
     @normalized
     def match(self, path):
-        return self.regex.match(path+os.path.sep) is not None
+        matches = self.regex.match(path+os.path.sep) is not None
+        if matches:
+            self.match_count += 1
+        return matches
 
     def __repr__(self):
         return '%s(%s)' % (type(self), self.pattern)
 
+    def __str__(self):
+        return self.pattern_orig
+
 
 def timestamp(s):
     """Convert a --timestamp=s argument to a datetime object"""