That message irritated me every time I started mutt with a limit
(using push '<limit>...') when there are no mails at all.
So I wrote this tiny patch for my mutt version, maybe it is
useful for others too?
diff -r 6ef5ecdbeb84 curs_main.c
--- a/curs_main.c Sun Oct 08 09:36:43 2017 -0700
+++ b/curs_main.c Wed Oct 18 03:52:53 2017 -0700
@@ -952,7 +952,7 @@
mutt_draw_tree (Context);
menu->redraw = REDRAW_FULL;
}
- if (Context->pattern)
+ if (Context->pattern && Context->msgcount)
mutt_message _("To view all messages, limit to \"all\".");
break;