diff --git a/test/regression/4959-bad-default-region/cmd b/test/regression/4959-bad-default-region/cmd
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..8b137891
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/regression/4959-bad-default-region/cmd
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+
diff --git a/test/regression/4959-bad-default-region/out b/test/regression/4959-bad-default-region/out
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..e09a56b4
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/regression/4959-bad-default-region/out
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+bad-highlighter
diff --git a/test/regression/4959-bad-default-region/rc b/test/regression/4959-bad-default-region/rc
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..ce50c21c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/regression/4959-bad-default-region/rc
@@ -0,0 +1,6 @@
+add-highlighter shared/test regions
+try %{
+    add-highlighter shared/test/ default-region invalid highlighter
+} catch %{
+    exec ibad-highlighter<esc>
+}