diff --git a/app/models/repository.rb b/app/models/repository.rb
index 9d68d8a6dfd9d0efbfd92ccf3d9b050fe3794ef2..a3ba5f4c18ab5ee05f0ef0625258e478e46bbb28 100644
--- a/app/models/repository.rb
+++ b/app/models/repository.rb
@@ -496,7 +496,7 @@ class Repository
 
   def search_files(query, ref)
     offset = 2
-    args = %W(git grep -i -n --before-context #{offset} --after-context #{offset} #{query} #{ref || root_ref})
+    args = %W(git grep -i -n --before-context #{offset} --after-context #{offset} -e #{query} #{ref || root_ref})
     Gitlab::Popen.popen(args, path_to_repo).first.scrub.split(/^--$/)
   end
 
diff --git a/lib/gitlab/project_search_results.rb b/lib/gitlab/project_search_results.rb
index 0dab7bcfa4d0c9af1081042fdd3121bdb924b779..0a2be605af9bf656505d00e6602c0c161d3ec8cd 100644
--- a/lib/gitlab/project_search_results.rb
+++ b/lib/gitlab/project_search_results.rb
@@ -9,7 +9,7 @@ module Gitlab
                         else
                           nil
                         end
-      @query = Shellwords.shellescape(query) if query.present?
+      @query = query
     end
 
     def objects(scope, page = nil)
diff --git a/spec/lib/gitlab/project_search_results_spec.rb b/spec/lib/gitlab/project_search_results_spec.rb
index 32a25f08cacdacf0bf7e33ecdfc3e66f7106ecc4..19327ac8ce030f2622e2a3ba7dac59b9c41cc430 100644
--- a/spec/lib/gitlab/project_search_results_spec.rb
+++ b/spec/lib/gitlab/project_search_results_spec.rb
@@ -9,7 +9,7 @@ describe Gitlab::ProjectSearchResults do
 
     it { expect(results.project).to eq(project) }
     it { expect(results.repository_ref).to be_nil }
-    it { expect(results.query).to eq('hello\\ world') }
+    it { expect(results.query).to eq('hello world') }
   end
 
   describe 'initialize with ref' do
@@ -18,6 +18,6 @@ describe Gitlab::ProjectSearchResults do
 
     it { expect(results.project).to eq(project) }
     it { expect(results.repository_ref).to eq(ref) }
-    it { expect(results.query).to eq('hello\\ world') }
+    it { expect(results.query).to eq('hello world') }
   end
 end