diff --git a/RegExpSupport/src/META-INF/RegExpPlugin.xml b/RegExpSupport/src/META-INF/RegExpPlugin.xml
index 54f6f622997a..3c37bbbac875 100644
--- a/RegExpSupport/src/META-INF/RegExpPlugin.xml
+++ b/RegExpSupport/src/META-INF/RegExpPlugin.xml
@@ -9,5 +9,6 @@
     <lang.braceMatcher language="RegExp" implementationClass="org.intellij.lang.regexp.RegExpBraceMatcher"/>
     <lang.surroundDescriptor language="RegExp" implementationClass="org.intellij.lang.regexp.surroundWith.SimpleSurroundDescriptor"/>
     <colorSettingsPage implementation="org.intellij.lang.regexp.RegExpColorsPage"/>
+    <basicWordSelectionFilter implementation="org.intellij.lang.regexp.RegExpWordSelectionFilter"/>
   </extensions>
 </idea-plugin>
diff --git a/RegExpSupport/src/org/intellij/lang/regexp/RegExpWordSelectionFilter.java b/RegExpSupport/src/org/intellij/lang/regexp/RegExpWordSelectionFilter.java
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..29ce387b7465
--- /dev/null
+++ b/RegExpSupport/src/org/intellij/lang/regexp/RegExpWordSelectionFilter.java
@@ -0,0 +1,33 @@
+/*
+ * Copyright 2000-2011 JetBrains s.r.o.
+ *
+ * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+ * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+ * You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ *
+ * http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ *
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+ * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+ * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+ * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+ * limitations under the License.
+ */
+package org.intellij.lang.regexp;
+
+import com.intellij.openapi.util.Condition;
+import com.intellij.psi.PsiElement;
+import org.intellij.lang.regexp.psi.RegExpChar;
+
+/**
+ * @author yole
+ */
+public class RegExpWordSelectionFilter implements Condition<PsiElement> {
+  @Override
+  public boolean value(PsiElement element) {
+    if (element.getNode().getElementType() == RegExpTT.CHARACTER || element instanceof RegExpChar) {
+      return false;
+    }
+    return true;
+  }
+}