VSCode: “~$ code file” opens new window instead tab

Question

In a Terminal within VSCode, when I type

~$ touch deleteme.file
~$ code deleteme.file 

a new VSCode windows opens up (with considerable loading time), instead of opening the file in a tab of the current window. How can I fix this?

I have the same behavior on

~$ code -r deleteme.file or

~$ code --reuse-window deleteme.file

[duplicate from this prematurely closed question]

Answer 1

Reinstalling VScode was the solution.