diff --git a/src/Symfony/Component/Console/Question/ChoiceQuestion.php b/src/Symfony/Component/Console/Question/ChoiceQuestion.php
index e5b6ff4ad7217..71eea72ef64a0 100644
--- a/src/Symfony/Component/Console/Question/ChoiceQuestion.php
+++ b/src/Symfony/Component/Console/Question/ChoiceQuestion.php
@@ -135,7 +135,7 @@ private function getDefaultValidator()
 
             if ($multiselect) {
                 // Check for a separated comma values
-                if (!preg_match('/^[a-zA-Z0-9_-]+(?:,[a-zA-Z0-9_-]+)*$/', $selectedChoices, $matches)) {
+                if (!preg_match('/^[^,]+(?:,[^,]+)*$/', $selectedChoices, $matches)) {
                     throw new \InvalidArgumentException(sprintf($errorMessage, $selected));
                 }
                 $selectedChoices = explode(',', $selectedChoices);
diff --git a/src/Symfony/Component/Console/Tests/Helper/QuestionHelperTest.php b/src/Symfony/Component/Console/Tests/Helper/QuestionHelperTest.php
index 49ba0ee06c79a..f42a5255d5587 100644
--- a/src/Symfony/Component/Console/Tests/Helper/QuestionHelperTest.php
+++ b/src/Symfony/Component/Console/Tests/Helper/QuestionHelperTest.php
@@ -273,6 +273,37 @@ public function simpleAnswerProvider()
         );
     }
 
+    /**
+     * @dataProvider specialCharacterInMultipleChoice
+     */
+    public function testSpecialCharacterChoiceFromMultipleChoiceList($providedAnswer, $expectedValue)
+    {
+        $possibleChoices = array(
+            '.',
+            'src',
+        );
+
+        $dialog = new QuestionHelper();
+        $dialog->setInputStream($this->getInputStream($providedAnswer."\n"));
+        $helperSet = new HelperSet(array(new FormatterHelper()));
+        $dialog->setHelperSet($helperSet);
+
+        $question = new ChoiceQuestion('Please select the directory', $possibleChoices);
+        $question->setMaxAttempts(1);
+        $question->setMultiselect(true);
+        $answer = $dialog->ask($this->createInputInterfaceMock(), $this->createOutputInterface(), $question);
+
+        $this->assertSame($expectedValue, $answer);
+    }
+
+    public function specialCharacterInMultipleChoice()
+    {
+        return array(
+            array('.', array('.')),
+            array('., src', array('.', 'src')),
+        );
+    }
+
     /**
      * @dataProvider mixedKeysChoiceListAnswerProvider
      */