diff --git a/stdlib/REPL/src/LineEdit.jl b/stdlib/REPL/src/LineEdit.jl
index 7af67ebe287a1..fe6813c168a13 100644
--- a/stdlib/REPL/src/LineEdit.jl
+++ b/stdlib/REPL/src/LineEdit.jl
@@ -1087,8 +1087,9 @@ function edit_transpose_chars(s::MIState)
 end
 
 function edit_transpose_chars(buf::IOBuffer)
-    position(buf) == 0 && return false
+    # Moving left but not transpoing anything is intentional, and matches Emacs's behavior
     eof(buf) && char_move_left(buf)
+    position(buf) == 0 && return false
     char_move_left(buf)
     pos = position(buf)
     a, b = read(buf, Char), read(buf, Char)
diff --git a/stdlib/REPL/test/lineedit.jl b/stdlib/REPL/test/lineedit.jl
index decad3eb07938..87028e239d5b8 100644
--- a/stdlib/REPL/test/lineedit.jl
+++ b/stdlib/REPL/test/lineedit.jl
@@ -375,6 +375,16 @@ let buf = IOBuffer()
     @test content(buf) == "βγαεδ"
     LineEdit.edit_transpose_chars(buf)
     @test content(buf) == "βγαδε"
+
+    seek(buf, 0)
+    @inferred(LineEdit.edit_clear(buf))
+    edit_insert(buf, "a")
+    LineEdit.edit_transpose_chars(buf)
+    @test content(buf) == "a"
+    seekend(buf)
+    LineEdit.edit_transpose_chars(buf)
+    @test content(buf) == "a"
+    @test position(buf) == 0
 end
 
 @testset "edit_word_transpose" begin