SVN: Checkout/export only the directory structure

Question

Is there a way to perform a SVN checkout (or export), which would fetch only the directory structure; that is to say, no files?

Answer 1

A use for checking out just the directory structure is a partial workaround for not being able to exclude one or more directories from being checked out. It is assumed that the cost of just checking out the directory tree is negligible in comparison to checking out the full source. With a versioned directory structure checked out I could then use Subversion's update and sparse directories to selectively pick what directory trees should have files.