It changed the whole file not only the selected/targeted code block

[AngelinCalu]

Type: Performance Issue

It changed the whole file not only the selected/targeted code block

A lot of changes (3719 lines) instead of changing a couple of lines only.

Extension version: 0.23.2
VS Code version: Code 1.96.2 (fabdb6a30b49f79a7aba0f2ad9df9b399473380f, 2024-12-19T10:22:47.216Z)
OS version: Darwin arm64 24.1.0
Modes:
Remote OS version: Linux x64 5.4.0-170-generic

[george-jones]

If there is a separate issue for this, apologies, but I feel like what I'm seeing is similar, so I'd like to provide a concrete example:

Code:

int main()
{
	int a = 0;
	int b = 1;
	int c = a + b;

	printf("Values are a: %d, b: %d\n", a, b);
	printf("Sum: %d\n", c);

	return 0;
}

Then my prompt to the chat:

How to output a mathematical SUM (sigma) character here assuming the terminal is using UTF-8?

Copilot response:

To output a mathematical SUM (sigma) character in the terminal using UTF-8, you can use the Unicode escape sequence for the sigma character. The Unicode code point for the summation symbol (∑) is U+2211. In C, you can use the \u escape sequence to print this character.
Here's how you can modify your code:

int main()
{
    int a = 0;
    int b = 1;
    int c = a + b;

    printf("Values are a: %d, b: %d\n", a, b);
    printf("Sum (\u2211): %d\n", c);

    return 0;
}

This will print the summation symbol (∑) followed by the sum of a and b. Make sure your terminal is set to use UTF-8 encoding to properly display the character.

It seems like Copilot wants to restate / rewrite the whole file rather than just updating a single relevant line.

[alexdima]

@george-jones Have you tried Copilot Edits (Edit mode)? We have worked on making Copilot go and edit your file and we work on taking care of extracting the right change from Copilot. Please give it a try:

CleanShot.2025-04-10.at.23.11.22.mp4

[george-jones]

@alexdima , thanks, I have not been using edit mode yet, just chat mode. Edit mode does look like it works well for this example, it's nice to be able to approve or deny each change individually.

[alexdima]

Given we have Edit mode to cover these scenarios, I will close the issue for now. Thank you!