Text selection

Use smart selection and rectangular (column) selection to quickly highlight text in Warp.

Smart selection

Smart selection goes beyond the typical double-click selection, which only highlights a single word. Instead, it uses semantic rules to treat common patterns (like URLs or file paths) as one unit, even when separated by punctuation or whitespace.

![Using smart selection to select a file path by double clicking.](/official-assets/warp/src/assets/terminal/smart-selection.webp)

Using smart selection to select a file path by double clicking.

Double-click on text in the input or block list. The following patterns are recognized:

URLs
File paths
Email addresses
IP addresses
Floating point numbers, including scientific notation.

You can toggle smart selection on the Settings > Features > Terminal > Double-click smart selection. If disabled, you can instead manually select specific punctuation characters to be included within word boundaries.

Rectangular selection

Rectangular selection lets you highlight text in a clean vertical block (also called column or box selection). This is especially useful for copying command output, logs, or prefixed text without grabbing unwanted characters.

![Using rectangular selection to select by columns in the block output.](/official-assets/warp/src/assets/terminal/rectangular-selection.webp)

Using rectangular selection to select by columns in the block output.

Hold the modifier keys while dragging your mouse:

macOS: ⌘+Option
Windows and Linux: Ctrl+Alt