diff --git a/mercurial/destutil.py b/mercurial/destutil.py
--- a/mercurial/destutil.py
+++ b/mercurial/destutil.py
@@ -405,7 +405,7 @@
     elif default:
         revs = scmutil.revrange(repo, [default])
     else:
-        raise error.Abort(
+        raise error.ConfigError(
             _(b"config option histedit.defaultrev can't be empty")
         )
 
diff --git a/tests/test-histedit-arguments.t b/tests/test-histedit-arguments.t
--- a/tests/test-histedit-arguments.t
+++ b/tests/test-histedit-arguments.t
@@ -127,7 +127,7 @@
 
   $ hg histedit --config "histedit.defaultrev="
   abort: config option histedit.defaultrev can't be empty
-  [255]
+  [30]
 
 Run on a revision not descendants of the initial parent
 --------------------------------------------------------------------