diff --git a/src/normal.cc b/src/normal.cc
index 6bdab3c1..052d1fd5 100644
--- a/src/normal.cc
+++ b/src/normal.cc
@@ -374,9 +374,14 @@ void replace_with_char(Context& context, int)
             return;
         ScopedEdition edition(context);
         Buffer& buffer = context.buffer();
-        SelectionList selections = context.selections();
-        select_all_matches(buffer, selections, Regex{"."});
-        insert<InsertMode::Replace>(buffer, selections, codepoint_to_str(key.key));
+        SelectionList& selections = context.selections();
+        std::vector<String> strings;
+        for (auto& sel : selections)
+        {
+            CharCount count = char_length(buffer, sel);
+            strings.emplace_back(key.key, count);
+        }
+        insert<InsertMode::Replace>(buffer, selections, strings);
     }, "replace with char", "enter char to replace with\n");
 }
 
diff --git a/src/selection.hh b/src/selection.hh
index e8278625..aad74f95 100644
--- a/src/selection.hh
+++ b/src/selection.hh
@@ -51,6 +51,13 @@ inline BufferIterator erase(Buffer& buffer, const Range& range)
                         utf8::next(buffer.iterator_at(range.max())));
 }
 
+inline CharCount char_length(const Buffer& buffer, const Range& range)
+{
+    return utf8::distance(buffer.iterator_at(range.min()),
+                          utf8::next(buffer.iterator_at(range.max())));
+}
+
+
 inline void avoid_eol(const Buffer& buffer, BufferCoord& coord)
 {
     const auto column = coord.column;