github / github/copilot-cli

Running under WSL, when copying text, BOM is always prepended to any copied text segment

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#2,571 1 comment 2 reactions 0 assignees View on GitHub
area:input-keyboard area:platform-windows
Dominant language
Shell
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Description

### Describe the bug

Running under WSL, when copying text, BOM (0xFEFF) is always prepended to any copied text segment.

e.g.
```
Then that strongly points to a Copilot CLI copy bug.

If it happens:

- only when copying from Copilot CLI output
- regardless of where the selection starts
- and always as a leading zero-width character

then the most likely explanation is that the UI/renderer is placing a hidden U+FEFF/BOM at the start of
copied selections.

So yes — based on what you described, I’d treat this as a bug in Copilot CLI’s copy/export behavior, not
in WSL or Bash.
```

### Affected version

GitHub Copilot CLI 1.0.21.

### Steps to reproduce the behavior

1. Install ubuntu under WSL
2. Install homebrew
3. `brew install copilot-cli`
4. `copilot`
5. Highlight some text output from the copilot app
6. Right-click
7. Paste the output into an editor that shows zero-width characters
8. Text is prepended with 0XFEFF

### Expected behavior

Text is _not_ prepended with 0XFEFF

### Additional context

_No response_

Contributor guide

Open the contributing guide

Research direction

Start by reproducing the issue under Ubuntu on WSL with GitHub Copilot CLI 1.0.21, following the listed install and copy steps. Compare pasted selections for a leading U+FEFF character; done means copied text no longer begins with the BOM in an editor that displays zero-width characters.

Written by the indexing model from the issue text.

Assessment

Tech stack
linux, shell, ubuntu
Domain
cli, operating-systems
Issue type
Bug
Difficulty
3/5
Estimated time
1-2 days
Activity status
Quiet
Clarity
Mostly clear
Newbie friendliness
48/100

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