[BUG] If a user types a \ in the prompt, in certain cases, it's treated as an escape character, for example ~\.folder

Preflight Checklist

• [x] I have searched existing issues and this hasn't been reported yet
• [x] This is a single bug report (please file separate reports for different bugs)
• [x] I am using the latest version of Claude Code

What's Wrong?

User prompts should be read as the user types them. If the users text needs to be pre-processed to escape characters that should be done by the input handler. When I type a path or some other sequence of text with backslashes, For example: ~\.claude, it shouldn't turn into ~.claude. If the internal mechanism needs a \ escaped, it should escape it. The user shouldn't have to type ~\\.claude ever to represent a single \.

What Should Happen?

A user should type ~\.claude and see ~\.claude when it posts, not ~.claude. If the input handler escapes it for internal use, it should un-escape it for re-displaying it.

Error Messages/Logs

Steps to Reproduce

Type text in a prompt for Claude... use \ within that text. It's context sensative so if the \ is followed by a . you just get a . instead of \. as you should.

Claude Model

Sonnet (default)

Is this a regression?

Yes, this worked in a previous version

Last Working Version

I don't know what the previous version was, it updates on an almost daily basis.

Claude Code Version

Claude 1.2278.0 (e5213f) 2026-04-13T17:49:21.000Z

Platform

Anthropic API

Operating System

Windows

Terminal/Shell

Other

Additional Information

I couldn't see Claude for Windows as an option in choosing the Terminal I'm using.