diff --git a/src/selection.cc b/src/selection.cc
index e0dbbecb36..f0b5b559cf 100644
--- a/src/selection.cc
+++ b/src/selection.cc
@@ -489,26 +489,41 @@ String selection_list_to_string(const SelectionList& selections)
                 transform(selection_to_string), ' ', false);
 }
 
-Selection selection_from_string(StringView desc)
+static BufferCoord buffer_coord_from_string(const Buffer& buffer, StringView desc, size_t timestamp)
 {
-    auto comma = find(desc, ',');
-    auto dot_anchor = find(StringView{desc.begin(), comma}, '.');
-    auto dot_cursor = find(StringView{comma, desc.end()}, '.');
-
-    if (comma == desc.end() or dot_anchor == comma or dot_cursor == desc.end())
-        throw runtime_error(format("'{}' does not follow <line>.<column>,<line>.<column> format", desc));
-
-    BufferCoord anchor{str_to_int({desc.begin(), dot_anchor}) - 1,
-                       str_to_int({dot_anchor+1, comma}) - 1};
+    auto dot = find(desc, '.');
+    if (dot == desc.end())
+        throw runtime_error(format("'{}' does not follow <line>.<column>[bc] format", desc));
 
-    BufferCoord cursor{str_to_int({comma+1, dot_cursor}) - 1,
-                       str_to_int({dot_cursor+1, desc.end()}) - 1};
+    auto is_suffix = [](char ch) {
+        return ch == 'b' || ch == 'c';
+    };
+    auto suffix = std::find_if(dot+1, desc.end(), is_suffix);
+    if (suffix != desc.end() and suffix+1 != desc.end())
+        throw runtime_error(format("'{}' does not follow <line>.<column>[bc] format", desc));
 
-    if (anchor.line < 0 or anchor.column < 0 or
-        cursor.line < 0 or cursor.column < 0)
+    const int line = str_to_int({desc.begin(), dot}) - 1;
+    const int column = str_to_int({dot+1, suffix}) - 1;
+    if (line < 0 or column < 0)
         throw runtime_error(format("coordinates must be >= 1: '{}'", desc));
 
-    return Selection{anchor, cursor};
+    if (suffix == desc.end() or *suffix == 'b')
+        return BufferCoord{line, column};
+    else
+    {
+        if (timestamp != buffer.timestamp())
+            throw runtime_error("codepoint columns are only allowed on latest timestamp");
+        return BufferCoord{line, buffer[line].byte_count_to(CharCount{column})};
+    }
+}
+
+Selection selection_from_string(const Buffer& buffer, StringView desc, size_t timestamp)
+{
+    auto comma = find(desc, ',');
+    if (comma == desc.end())
+        throw runtime_error(format("'{}' does not follow <line>.<column>[bc],<line>.<column>[bc] format", desc));
+    return {buffer_coord_from_string(buffer, {desc.begin(), comma}, timestamp),
+            buffer_coord_from_string(buffer, {comma+1, desc.end()}, timestamp)};
 }
 
 }
diff --git a/src/selection.hh b/src/selection.hh
index 34532f9b5f..101bbb2ddc 100644
--- a/src/selection.hh
+++ b/src/selection.hh
@@ -159,7 +159,7 @@ Vector<Selection> compute_modified_ranges(Buffer& buffer, size_t timestamp);
 
 String selection_to_string(const Selection& selection);
 String selection_list_to_string(const SelectionList& selection);
-Selection selection_from_string(StringView desc);
+Selection selection_from_string(const Buffer& buffer, StringView desc, size_t timestamp);
 
 template<class StringArray>
 SelectionList selection_list_from_strings(Buffer& buffer, StringArray&& descs, size_t timestamp, size_t main)
@@ -167,7 +167,10 @@ SelectionList selection_list_from_strings(Buffer& buffer, StringArray&& descs, s
     if (timestamp > buffer.timestamp())
         throw runtime_error{format("invalid timestamp '{}'", timestamp)};
 
-    auto sels = descs | transform(selection_from_string) | gather<Vector<Selection>>();
+    auto parse_selection = [&buffer, timestamp](StringView desc) {
+        return selection_from_string(buffer, desc, timestamp);
+    };
+    auto sels = descs | transform(parse_selection) | gather<Vector<Selection>>();
     if (sels.empty())
         throw runtime_error{"empty selection description"};
     if (main >= sels.size())
diff --git a/test/compose/select-codepoints/cmd b/test/compose/select-codepoints/cmd
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..08f144d90d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/compose/select-codepoints/cmd
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+:select 1.1c,1.2c 1.4c,1.5c 1.7c,1.7c 2.9c,2.7c 3.2c,3.5c 3.10c,3.11c 4.2c,4.3c 5.3c,5.3c<ret>
diff --git a/test/compose/select-codepoints/in b/test/compose/select-codepoints/in
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..07ff7b32f3
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/compose/select-codepoints/in
@@ -0,0 +1,5 @@
+lx λx.λy.y x
+∃e∈C. ∀x∈C. x⊗e=e⊗x=x
+	λx.λy.y x̦x
+-y̦͂-
+-o̦͂-
diff --git a/test/compose/select-codepoints/kak_quoted_selections b/test/compose/select-codepoints/kak_quoted_selections
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..96fe7aad01
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/compose/select-codepoints/kak_quoted_selections
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+'lx' 'λx' 'λ' '∀x∈' 'λx.λ' 'x̦' 'y̦' '̦'