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There are certain file and folder name editing scenarios in which pressing the CTRL+BACKSPACE (to delete a whole word to the left) results in a weird symbol, instead of actually erasing that whole word that's on the left.

Here's the output I get:

enter image description here

Why do I get this?

I mainly get this while editing file and folder names in Windows Explorer, but also in other scenarios, like metadata editing in foobar2000. Because I do lots of file and folder name editing, this could get quite annoying.

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  • This is the representation of the control character for Backspace (BS, U+0008). Windows does not interpret this character and simply displays its underlying visual representation, depending on the font; in this case a rectangle.
    – GiantTree
    Dec 13, 2015 at 12:43
  • Is there any way to change this behavior to the common "delete whole word to the left"? (like it is in most other scenarios). And, weirdly enough - CTRL+SHIFT (select whole word) works, either to the right or to the left.
    – voronoi
    Dec 13, 2015 at 17:55
  • AFAIK you can't. Windows is not designed that way. Newer Windows applications (like Cortana's search for example) support this behaviour, so it's just a remainder of the past, when nobody thought about such features. CTRL+DEL however works and deletes the next word that comes after the caret.
    – GiantTree
    Dec 13, 2015 at 18:07

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