diff --git a/pkg/gui/controllers/patch_explorer_controller.go b/pkg/gui/controllers/patch_explorer_controller.go
index 393343581a3..5b832c80d34 100644
--- a/pkg/gui/controllers/patch_explorer_controller.go
+++ b/pkg/gui/controllers/patch_explorer_controller.go
@@ -1,8 +1,11 @@
 package controllers
 
 import (
+	"strings"
+
 	"github.com/jesseduffield/gocui"
 	"github.com/jesseduffield/lazygit/pkg/gui/types"
+	"github.com/samber/lo"
 )
 
 type PatchExplorerControllerFactory struct {
@@ -295,13 +298,49 @@ func (self *PatchExplorerController) CopySelectedToClipboard() error {
 	selected := self.context.GetState().PlainRenderSelected()
 
 	self.c.LogAction(self.c.Tr.Actions.CopySelectedTextToClipboard)
-	if err := self.c.OS().CopyToClipboard(selected); err != nil {
+	if err := self.c.OS().CopyToClipboard(dropDiffPrefix(selected)); err != nil {
 		return err
 	}
 
 	return nil
 }
 
+// Removes '+' or '-' from the beginning of each line in the diff string, except
+// when both '+' and '-' lines are present, or diff header lines, in which case
+// the diff is returned unchanged. This is useful for copying parts of diffs to
+// the clipboard in order to paste them into code.
+func dropDiffPrefix(diff string) string {
+	lines := strings.Split(strings.TrimRight(diff, "\n"), "\n")
+
+	const (
+		PLUS int = iota
+		MINUS
+		CONTEXT
+		OTHER
+	)
+
+	linesByType := lo.GroupBy(lines, func(line string) int {
+		switch {
+		case strings.HasPrefix(line, "+"):
+			return PLUS
+		case strings.HasPrefix(line, "-"):
+			return MINUS
+		case strings.HasPrefix(line, " "):
+			return CONTEXT
+		}
+		return OTHER
+	})
+
+	hasLinesOfType := func(lineType int) bool { return len(linesByType[lineType]) > 0 }
+
+	keepPrefix := hasLinesOfType(OTHER) || (hasLinesOfType(PLUS) && hasLinesOfType(MINUS))
+	if keepPrefix {
+		return diff
+	}
+
+	return strings.Join(lo.Map(lines, func(line string, _ int) string { return line[1:] + "\n" }), "")
+}
+
 func (self *PatchExplorerController) isFocused() bool {
 	return self.c.Context().Current().GetKey() == self.context.GetKey()
 }
diff --git a/pkg/gui/controllers/patch_explorer_controller_test.go b/pkg/gui/controllers/patch_explorer_controller_test.go
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..4f815d1d390
--- /dev/null
+++ b/pkg/gui/controllers/patch_explorer_controller_test.go
@@ -0,0 +1,89 @@
+package controllers
+
+import (
+	"testing"
+
+	"github.com/stretchr/testify/assert"
+)
+
+func Test_dropDiffPrefix(t *testing.T) {
+	scenarios := []struct {
+		name           string
+		diff           string
+		expectedResult string
+	}{
+		{
+			name:           "empty string",
+			diff:           "",
+			expectedResult: "",
+		},
+		{
+			name: "only added lines",
+			diff: `+line1
++line2
+`,
+			expectedResult: `line1
+line2
+`,
+		},
+		{
+			name: "added lines with context",
+			diff: ` line1
++line2
+`,
+			expectedResult: `line1
+line2
+`,
+		},
+		{
+			name: "only deleted lines",
+			diff: `-line1
+-line2
+`,
+			expectedResult: `line1
+line2
+`,
+		},
+		{
+			name: "deleted lines with context",
+			diff: `-line1
+ line2
+`,
+			expectedResult: `line1
+line2
+`,
+		},
+		{
+			name: "only context",
+			diff: ` line1
+ line2
+`,
+			expectedResult: `line1
+line2
+`,
+		},
+		{
+			name: "added and deleted lines",
+			diff: `+line1
+-line2
+`,
+			expectedResult: `+line1
+-line2
+`,
+		},
+		{
+			name: "hunk header lines",
+			diff: `@@ -1,8 +1,11 @@
+ line1
+`,
+			expectedResult: `@@ -1,8 +1,11 @@
+ line1
+`,
+		},
+	}
+	for _, s := range scenarios {
+		t.Run(s.name, func(t *testing.T) {
+			assert.Equal(t, s.expectedResult, dropDiffPrefix(s.diff))
+		})
+	}
+}