The extension breaks normal VS Code selection behavior in PowerShell files

[alexchexes]

Prerequisites

• I have written a descriptive issue title.
• I have searched all open and closed issues to ensure it has not already been reported.
• I have read the troubleshooting guide.
• I am sure this issue is with the extension itself and does not reproduce in a standalone PowerShell instance.
• I have verified that I am using the latest version of Visual Studio Code and the PowerShell extension.
• If this is a security issue, I have read the security issue reporting guidance.

Summary

This extension breaks the expected double-click-to-select and Ctrl+Shift+Arrows-to-select behavior in PowerShell files.

It appears to treat hyphenated text like foo-bar-baz as a single word for both double-click word-selection and keyboard word-wise selection, while the expected behavior observed in any other language modes (verified in C#, JavaScript and plain text) is to treat foo, bar, and baz as separate selectable segments.

The demonstration of the issue is on the screencast. The broken Ctrl+Shift+Arrows behavior is shown in the second half of the video.

PowerShell Version

PS C:\Users\Alex> $PSVersionTable; $Host

Name                           Value
----                           -----
PSVersion                      7.6.0
PSEdition                      Core
GitCommitId                    7.6.0
OS                             Microsoft Windows 10.0.26100   
Platform                       Win32NT
PSCompatibleVersions           {1.0, 2.0, 3.0, 4.0…}
PSRemotingProtocolVersion      2.4
SerializationVersion           1.1.0.1
WSManStackVersion              3.0

Name             : Visual Studio Code Host
Version          : 2026.1.0
InstanceId       : 5f179194-fc41-4fa9-a797-9a1e5b9854fc       
UI               : System.Management.Automation.Internal.Host 
                   .InternalHostUserInterface
CurrentCulture   : en-US
CurrentUICulture : en-US
PrivateData      : Microsoft.PowerShell.ConsoleHost+ConsoleCo
                   lorProxy
DebuggerEnabled  : True
IsRunspacePushed : False
Runspace         : System.Management.Automation.Runspaces.Loc
                   alRunspace

Visual Studio Code Version

PS C:\Windows\System32> code --version
1.116.0
560a9dba96f961efea7b1612916f89e5d5d4d679
x64

Extension Version

PS C:\Windows\System32> code --list-extensions --show-versions | Select-String powershell

ms-vscode.powershell@2026.1.0

Steps to Reproduce

1. Open a file, set the language mode to "PowerShell", and put this content in it:

   # foo-bar-baz
   $BROKEN_SELECTION_BEHAVIOR = "foo-bar-baz"

---

2. Double-click on foo, bar, or baz, either in the comment or in the assigned string.
3. Notice that instead of a single atom like foo, bar, or baz, the entire foo-bar-baz is always selected.

---

4. Place the cursor anywhere near foo or bar, for example like this: |foo-bar-baz.
5. Try to select one atom with the keyboard by pressing Ctrl + Shift + Arrow-Right.
6. See that instead of a single atom like foo, the whole foo-bar-baz is always selected.

Visuals

PowerToys_2026-04-15--12-09-32--812.mp4

Logs

No response

[andyleejordan]

I believe this is a consequence of the extension setting the word separators to behave as PowerShell coders expect, you can reset that setting:

vscode-powershell/docs/troubleshooting.md

Lines 53 to 83 in 01e8ef8

	## Double-click isn't selecting the whole variable
	VS Code provides a default set of word separators, that is, characters that split words
	and so affect double-click selections. The editor's defaults include `-`, however we
	exclude `-` for PowerShell documents because unlike programming languages that use
	`CamelCase` or `snake_case`, PowerShell uses a `Verb-Noun` style where dashes are part of
	many symbol names (like underscores in other languages). So by excluding it we configure
	VS Code to treat `Verb-Noun` as one symbol/word, which matches what the extension
	semantically highlights when the cursor is placed within it.
	Users may also wish to set VS Code's integrated terminal's word separators (a separate
	setting) to exclude `-` to mirror the behavior in the terminal. This will apply to _all_
	terminals, not just PowerShell terminals.
	```json
	"terminal.integrated.wordSeparators": " ()[]{}',\"`─"
	```
	Different users have a variety of different preferences around these word selection
	settings and you can easily configure your own [word separators][] in VS Code's settings.
	To revert this behavior, add the following entry to the VS Code's `settings.json`:
	```json
	"[powershell]": {
	"editor.wordSeparators": "`~!@#$%^&*()-=+[{]}\\|;:'\",.<>/?"
	}
	```
	This will cause `-` to register as a word boundary, meaning for example on the `G` in
	`Get-Process` will only select `Get` rather than the verb and noun `Get-Process`.

[alexchexes]

Thank you very much; I wasn't aware that we can control that from user settings. Thanks.