diff --git a/Lib/rlcompleter.py b/Lib/rlcompleter.py
index 94f9341beef..d517c0e2d39 100644
--- a/Lib/rlcompleter.py
+++ b/Lib/rlcompleter.py
@@ -73,6 +73,12 @@ class Completer:
         if self.use_main_ns:
             self.namespace = __main__.__dict__
 
+        if not text.strip():
+            if state == 0:
+                return '\t'
+            else:
+                return None
+
         if state == 0:
             if "." in text:
                 self.matches = self.attr_matches(text)
diff --git a/Lib/test/test_rlcompleter.py b/Lib/test/test_rlcompleter.py
index 9d4d0bdeaf2..d37b620b7a4 100644
--- a/Lib/test/test_rlcompleter.py
+++ b/Lib/test/test_rlcompleter.py
@@ -64,5 +64,13 @@ class TestRlcompleter(unittest.TestCase):
                          ['egg.{}('.format(x) for x in dir(str)
                           if x.startswith('s')])
 
+    def test_complete(self):
+        completer = rlcompleter.Completer()
+        self.assertEqual(completer.complete('', 0), '\t')
+        self.assertEqual(completer.complete('a', 0), 'and')
+        self.assertEqual(completer.complete('a', 1), 'as')
+        self.assertEqual(completer.complete('as', 2), 'assert')
+        self.assertEqual(completer.complete('an', 0), 'and')
+
 if __name__ == '__main__':
     unittest.main()
diff --git a/Misc/NEWS b/Misc/NEWS
index 1e1a88c466a..22323577c53 100644
--- a/Misc/NEWS
+++ b/Misc/NEWS
@@ -62,6 +62,9 @@ Core and Builtins
 Library
 -------
 
+- Issue #23441: rcompleter now prints a tab character instead of displaying
+  possible completions for an empty word.  Initial patch by Martin Sekera.
+
 - Issue #24683: Fixed crashes in _json functions called with arguments of
   inappropriate type.