diff --git a/lib/spack/spack/cmd/find.py b/lib/spack/spack/cmd/find.py
index b9feed839c7..d0b67524954 100644
--- a/lib/spack/spack/cmd/find.py
+++ b/lib/spack/spack/cmd/find.py
@@ -186,7 +186,7 @@ def find(parser, args):
     if args.unknown:
         known = False
 
-    explicit = None
+    explicit = any
     if args.explicit:
         explicit = False
     if args.implicit: