diff --git a/lib/snippet-expansion.coffee b/lib/snippet-expansion.coffee
index e306aff..bf71a18 100644
--- a/lib/snippet-expansion.coffee
+++ b/lib/snippet-expansion.coffee
@@ -1,5 +1,7 @@
 _ = require 'underscore-plus'
 {Subscriber} = require 'emissary'
+{Point, Range} = require 'atom'
+Snippet = require './snippet'
 
 module.exports =
 class SnippetExpansion
@@ -9,9 +11,10 @@ class SnippetExpansion
   tabStopMarkers: null
   settingTabStop: false
 
+
   constructor: (@snippet, @editor) ->
-    @editor.selectToBeginningOfWord()
-    startPosition = @editor.getCursorBufferPosition()
+    startPosition = @selectToBoundaryPosition()
+
     @editor.transact =>
       [newRange] = @editor.insertText(snippet.body, autoIndent: false)
       if snippet.tabStops.length > 0
@@ -21,6 +24,21 @@ class SnippetExpansion
         @editor.normalizeTabsInBufferRange(newRange)
       @indentSubsequentLines(startPosition.row, snippet) if snippet.lineCount > 1
 
+  selectToBoundaryPosition: ->
+    cursor = @editor.getCursor()
+    line = cursor.getCurrentBufferLine()
+    newColumn = cursor.getBufferColumn()
+    column = newColumn
+    row = cursor.getBufferRow()
+    while newColumn >= 0
+      break if Snippet.prefixBoundary.test line[newColumn - 1]
+      newColumn--
+    if newColumn < 0 then newColumn = 0
+    startPoint = new Point(row, newColumn)
+    endPoint = new Point(row, column)
+    @editor.setSelectedBufferRange new Range(startPoint, endPoint)
+    startPoint
+
   cursorMoved: ({oldBufferPosition, newBufferPosition, textChanged}) ->
     return if @settingTabStop or textChanged
     oldTabStops = @tabStopsForBufferPosition(oldBufferPosition)
diff --git a/lib/snippet.coffee b/lib/snippet.coffee
index c0cda07..b9471b6 100644
--- a/lib/snippet.coffee
+++ b/lib/snippet.coffee
@@ -3,6 +3,7 @@ _ = require 'underscore-plus'
 
 module.exports =
 class Snippet
+  @prefixBoundary: /\s/
   name: null
   prefix: null
   body: null
diff --git a/lib/snippets.coffee b/lib/snippets.coffee
index 116e46c..7522738 100644
--- a/lib/snippets.coffee
+++ b/lib/snippets.coffee
@@ -92,14 +92,24 @@ module.exports =
   getBodyParser: ->
     @bodyParser ?= require './snippet-body-parser'
 
+  getPrefixText: (cursor) ->
+    line = cursor.getCurrentBufferLine()
+    i = cursor.getBufferColumn() - 1
+    prefix = []
+    while i >= 0
+      break if Snippet.prefixBoundary.test line[i]
+      prefix.unshift line[i]
+      i--
+
+    prefix.join ''
+
   enableSnippetsInEditor: (editorView) ->
     editor = editorView.getEditor()
     editorView.command 'snippets:expand', (e) =>
       unless editor.getSelection().isEmpty()
         e.abortKeyBinding()
         return
-
-      prefix = editor.getCursor().getCurrentWordPrefix()
+      prefix = @getPrefixText editor.getCursor()
       if snippet = atom.syntax.getProperty(editor.getCursorScopes(), "snippets.#{prefix}")
         editor.transact ->
           new SnippetExpansion(snippet, editor)
diff --git a/spec/snippets-spec.coffee b/spec/snippets-spec.coffee
index 1482290..6646d7c 100644
--- a/spec/snippets-spec.coffee
+++ b/spec/snippets-spec.coffee
@@ -37,6 +37,10 @@ describe "Snippets extension", ->
             prefix: "t1"
             body: "this is a test"
 
+          "special chars":
+            prefix: "@unique"
+            body: "@unique see"
+
           "tab stops":
             prefix: "t2"
             body: """
@@ -232,6 +236,22 @@ describe "Snippets extension", ->
         editorView.trigger keydownEvent('tab', target: editorView[0])
         expect(buffer.lineForRow(0)).toBe "first line"
 
+    describe "when text contains special characters", ->
+      it "should see the special character as part of the tab boundary", ->
+        editor.insertText("@unique")
+        expect(editor.getCursorScreenPosition()).toEqual [0, 7]
+
+        editorView.trigger keydownEvent('tab', target: editorView[0])
+        expect(buffer.lineForRow(0)).toBe "@unique seevar quicksort = function () {"
+        expect(editor.getCursorScreenPosition()).toEqual [0, 11]
+      it "should see the special character as part of the tab boundary and select only the prefix", ->
+        editor.insertText("a; @unique")
+        expect(editor.getCursorScreenPosition()).toEqual [0, 10]
+
+        editorView.trigger keydownEvent('tab', target: editorView[0])
+        expect(buffer.lineForRow(0)).toBe "a; @unique seevar quicksort = function () {"
+        expect(editor.getCursorScreenPosition()).toEqual [0, 14]
+
   describe "snippet loading", ->
     [configDirPath, packageWithSnippets, packageWithBrokenSnippets] = []