diff --git a/src/main.cc b/src/main.cc
index f21dcde6..418ead97 100644
--- a/src/main.cc
+++ b/src/main.cc
@@ -311,7 +311,7 @@ void do_deindent(Context& context)
     editor.erase();
 }
 
-template<bool inner>
+template<SurroundFlags flags>
 void do_select_object(Context& context)
 {
     context.input_handler().on_next_key(
@@ -319,18 +319,18 @@ void do_select_object(Context& context)
         typedef std::function<Selection (const Selection&)> Selector;
         static const std::unordered_map<Key, Selector> key_to_selector =
         {
-            { { Key::Modifiers::None, '(' }, std::bind(select_surrounding, _1, CodepointPair{ '(', ')' }, inner) },
-            { { Key::Modifiers::None, ')' }, std::bind(select_surrounding, _1, CodepointPair{ '(', ')' }, inner) },
-            { { Key::Modifiers::None, 'b' }, std::bind(select_surrounding, _1, CodepointPair{ '(', ')' }, inner) },
-            { { Key::Modifiers::None, '{' }, std::bind(select_surrounding, _1, CodepointPair{ '{', '}' }, inner) },
-            { { Key::Modifiers::None, '}' }, std::bind(select_surrounding, _1, CodepointPair{ '{', '}' }, inner) },
-            { { Key::Modifiers::None, 'B' }, std::bind(select_surrounding, _1, CodepointPair{ '{', '}' }, inner) },
-            { { Key::Modifiers::None, '[' }, std::bind(select_surrounding, _1, CodepointPair{ '[', ']' }, inner) },
-            { { Key::Modifiers::None, ']' }, std::bind(select_surrounding, _1, CodepointPair{ '[', ']' }, inner) },
-            { { Key::Modifiers::None, '<' }, std::bind(select_surrounding, _1, CodepointPair{ '<', '>' }, inner) },
-            { { Key::Modifiers::None, '>' }, std::bind(select_surrounding, _1, CodepointPair{ '<', '>' }, inner) },
-            { { Key::Modifiers::None, 'w' }, std::bind(select_whole_word<false>, _1, inner) },
-            { { Key::Modifiers::None, 'W' }, std::bind(select_whole_word<true>, _1, inner) },
+            { { Key::Modifiers::None, '(' }, std::bind(select_surrounding, _1, CodepointPair{ '(', ')' }, flags) },
+            { { Key::Modifiers::None, ')' }, std::bind(select_surrounding, _1, CodepointPair{ '(', ')' }, flags) },
+            { { Key::Modifiers::None, 'b' }, std::bind(select_surrounding, _1, CodepointPair{ '(', ')' }, flags) },
+            { { Key::Modifiers::None, '{' }, std::bind(select_surrounding, _1, CodepointPair{ '{', '}' }, flags) },
+            { { Key::Modifiers::None, '}' }, std::bind(select_surrounding, _1, CodepointPair{ '{', '}' }, flags) },
+            { { Key::Modifiers::None, 'B' }, std::bind(select_surrounding, _1, CodepointPair{ '{', '}' }, flags) },
+            { { Key::Modifiers::None, '[' }, std::bind(select_surrounding, _1, CodepointPair{ '[', ']' }, flags) },
+            { { Key::Modifiers::None, ']' }, std::bind(select_surrounding, _1, CodepointPair{ '[', ']' }, flags) },
+            { { Key::Modifiers::None, '<' }, std::bind(select_surrounding, _1, CodepointPair{ '<', '>' }, flags) },
+            { { Key::Modifiers::None, '>' }, std::bind(select_surrounding, _1, CodepointPair{ '<', '>' }, flags) },
+            { { Key::Modifiers::None, 'w' }, std::bind(select_whole_word<false>, _1, flags & SurroundFlags::Inner) },
+            { { Key::Modifiers::None, 'W' }, std::bind(select_whole_word<true>, _1, flags & SurroundFlags::Inner) },
         };
 
         auto it = key_to_selector.find(key);
@@ -535,8 +535,10 @@ std::unordered_map<Key, std::function<void (Context& context)>> keymap =
     { { Key::Modifiers::None, 'u' }, repeated([](Context& context) { if (not context.editor().undo()) { context.print_status("nothing left to undo"); } }) },
     { { Key::Modifiers::None, 'U' }, repeated([](Context& context) { if (not context.editor().redo()) { context.print_status("nothing left to redo"); } }) },
 
-    { { Key::Modifiers::Alt,  'i' }, do_select_object<true> },
-    { { Key::Modifiers::Alt,  'a' }, do_select_object<false> },
+    { { Key::Modifiers::Alt,  'i' }, do_select_object<SurroundFlags::ToBegin | SurroundFlags::ToEnd | SurroundFlags::Inner> },
+    { { Key::Modifiers::Alt,  'a' }, do_select_object<SurroundFlags::ToBegin | SurroundFlags::ToEnd> },
+    { { Key::Modifiers::None,  ']' }, do_select_object<SurroundFlags::ToEnd> },
+    { { Key::Modifiers::None,  '[' }, do_select_object<SurroundFlags::ToBegin> },
 
     { { Key::Modifiers::Alt, 'w' }, repeated([](Context& context) { context.editor().select(select_to_next_word<true>); }) },
     { { Key::Modifiers::Alt, 'e' }, repeated([](Context& context) { context.editor().select(select_to_next_word_end<true>); }) },
diff --git a/src/selectors.cc b/src/selectors.cc
index d900cf9f..c1023594 100644
--- a/src/selectors.cc
+++ b/src/selectors.cc
@@ -224,51 +224,61 @@ Selection select_matching(const Selection& selection)
 
 Selection select_surrounding(const Selection& selection,
                              const CodepointPair& matching,
-                             bool inside)
+                             SurroundFlags flags)
 {
-    int level = 0;
+    const bool to_begin = flags & SurroundFlags::ToBegin;
+    const bool to_end   = flags & SurroundFlags::ToEnd;
     Utf8Iterator first = selection.last();
-    while (not is_begin(first))
+    if (to_begin)
     {
-        if (first != selection.last() and *first == matching.second)
-            ++level;
-        else if (*first == matching.first)
+        int level = 0;
+        while (not is_begin(first))
         {
-            if (level == 0)
-                break;
-            else
-                --level;
+            if (first != selection.last() and *first == matching.second)
+                ++level;
+            else if (*first == matching.first)
+            {
+                if (level == 0)
+                    break;
+                else
+                    --level;
+            }
+            --first;
         }
-        --first;
+        if (level != 0 or *first != matching.first)
+            return selection;
     }
-    if (level != 0 or *first != matching.first)
-        return selection;
 
-    level = 0;
-    Utf8Iterator last = first + 1;
-    while (not is_end(last))
+    Utf8Iterator last = selection.last();
+    if (to_end)
     {
-        if (*last == matching.first)
-            ++level;
-        else if (*last == matching.second)
+        int level = 0;
+        last = first + 1;
+        while (not is_end(last))
         {
-            if (level == 0)
-                break;
-            else
-                --level;
+            if (*last == matching.first)
+                ++level;
+            else if (*last == matching.second)
+            {
+                if (level == 0)
+                    break;
+                else
+                    --level;
+            }
+            ++last;
         }
-        ++last;
+        if (level != 0 or *last != matching.second)
+            return selection;
     }
-    if (level != 0 or *last != matching.second)
-        return selection;
 
-    if (inside)
+    if (flags & SurroundFlags::Inner)
     {
-        ++first;
-        if (first != last)
+        if (to_begin)
+            ++first;
+        if (to_end and first != last)
             --last;
     }
-    return utf8_selection(first, last);
+    return to_end ? utf8_selection(first, last) : utf8_selection(last, first);
 }
 
 Selection select_to(const Selection& selection,
diff --git a/src/selectors.hh b/src/selectors.hh
index 806c27ac..2026cb4d 100644
--- a/src/selectors.hh
+++ b/src/selectors.hh
@@ -2,7 +2,7 @@
 #define selectors_hh_INCLUDED
 
 #include "selection.hh"
-#include "utf8.hh"
+#include "unicode.hh"
 
 namespace Kakoune
 {
@@ -17,10 +17,6 @@ Selection select_to_previous_word(const Selection& selection);
 Selection select_line(const Selection& selection);
 Selection select_matching(const Selection& selection);
 
-using CodepointPair = std::pair<Codepoint, Codepoint>;
-Selection select_surrounding(const Selection& selection,
-                             const CodepointPair& matching, bool inside);
-
 Selection select_to(const Selection& selection,
                     Codepoint c, int count, bool inclusive);
 Selection select_to_reverse(const Selection& selection,
@@ -43,6 +39,22 @@ SelectionList select_all_matches(const Selection& selection,
 SelectionList split_selection(const Selection& selection,
                               const String& separator_regex);
 
+enum class SurroundFlags
+{
+    ToBegin = 1,
+    ToEnd   = 2,
+    Inner   = 4
+};
+constexpr bool operator&(SurroundFlags lhs, SurroundFlags rhs)
+{ return (bool)((int)lhs & (int) rhs); }
+constexpr SurroundFlags operator|(SurroundFlags lhs, SurroundFlags rhs)
+{ return (SurroundFlags)((int)lhs | (int) rhs); }
+
+using CodepointPair = std::pair<Codepoint, Codepoint>;
+Selection select_surrounding(const Selection& selection,
+                             const CodepointPair& matching,
+                             SurroundFlags flags);
+
 }
 
 #endif // selectors_hh_INCLUDED