diff --git a/mercurial/templater.py b/mercurial/templater.py
--- a/mercurial/templater.py
+++ b/mercurial/templater.py
@@ -868,7 +868,7 @@ def _flatten(thing):
 
 def unquotestring(s):
     '''unwrap quotes if any; otherwise returns unmodified string'''
-    if len(s) < 2 or s[0] != s[-1]:
+    if len(s) < 2 or s[0] not in "'\"" or s[0] != s[-1]:
         return s
     return s[1:-1]
 
diff --git a/tests/test-command-template.t b/tests/test-command-template.t
--- a/tests/test-command-template.t
+++ b/tests/test-command-template.t
@@ -71,6 +71,8 @@ Quoting for ui.logtemplate
   8
   $ hg tip --config 'ui.logtemplate="{rev}\n"'
   8
+  $ hg tip --config 'ui.logtemplate=n{rev}\n'
+  n8
 
 Make sure user/global hgrc does not affect tests