diff --git a/source/com/intellij/codeInsight/editorActions/SelectWordUtil.java b/source/com/intellij/codeInsight/editorActions/SelectWordUtil.java
index 7ff47096713e..4334b76430b1 100644
--- a/source/com/intellij/codeInsight/editorActions/SelectWordUtil.java
+++ b/source/com/intellij/codeInsight/editorActions/SelectWordUtil.java
@@ -295,6 +295,7 @@ public class SelectWordUtil {
   }
 
   private static TextRange getWordSelectionRange(CharSequence editorText, int cursorOffset) {
+    if (editorText.length() == 0) return null;
     if (cursorOffset > 0 && !Character.isJavaIdentifierPart(editorText.charAt(cursorOffset)) &&
         Character.isJavaIdentifierPart(editorText.charAt(cursorOffset - 1))) {
       cursorOffset--;