diff --git a/mercurial/hgweb/webcommands.py b/mercurial/hgweb/webcommands.py
--- a/mercurial/hgweb/webcommands.py
+++ b/mercurial/hgweb/webcommands.py
@@ -248,7 +248,7 @@
 
     def getsearchmode(query):
         try:
-            ctx = web.repo[query]
+            ctx = scmutil.revsymbol(web.repo, query)
         except (error.RepoError, error.LookupError):
             # query is not an exact revision pointer, need to
             # decide if it's a revset expression or keywords