diff --git a/modules/git/gitcmd/command.go b/modules/git/gitcmd/command.go
index d40f3f15029..81e375cabf9 100644
--- a/modules/git/gitcmd/command.go
+++ b/modules/git/gitcmd/command.go
@@ -172,6 +172,16 @@ func (c *Command) AddOptionFormat(opt string, args ...any) *Command {
 	return c
 }
 
+func (c *Command) AddOptionGrepExpr(s string) *Command {
+	if len(c.args) == 0 || c.args[0] != "grep" {
+		c.handlePreErrorBrokenCommand("(not grep command)")
+		return c
+	}
+	// man git-grep: -e: This option has to be used for patterns starting with "-"
+	c.args = append(c.args, "-e", s)
+	return c
+}
+
 // AddDynamicArguments adds new dynamic argument values to the command.
 // The arguments may come from user input and can not be trusted, so no leading '-' is allowed to avoid passing options.
 // TODO: in the future, this function can be renamed to AddArgumentValues
diff --git a/modules/git/gitcmd/command_test.go b/modules/git/gitcmd/command_test.go
index 8425f6f837a..7b768274182 100644
--- a/modules/git/gitcmd/command_test.go
+++ b/modules/git/gitcmd/command_test.go
@@ -77,10 +77,27 @@ func TestRunWithContextStd(t *testing.T) {
 		cmd := NewCommand()
 		cmd.AddDynamicArguments("-test")
 		assert.ErrorIs(t, cmd.Run(t.Context()), ErrBrokenCommand)
+		assert.Empty(t, cmd.args)
 
 		cmd = NewCommand()
 		cmd.AddDynamicArguments("--test")
 		assert.ErrorIs(t, cmd.Run(t.Context()), ErrBrokenCommand)
+		assert.Empty(t, cmd.args)
+
+		cmd = NewCommand()
+		cmd.AddOptionGrepExpr("-x")
+		assert.ErrorIs(t, cmd.Run(t.Context()), ErrBrokenCommand)
+		assert.Empty(t, cmd.args)
+
+		cmd = NewCommand("any")
+		cmd.AddOptionGrepExpr("-x")
+		assert.ErrorIs(t, cmd.Run(t.Context()), ErrBrokenCommand)
+		assert.Equal(t, []string{"any"}, cmd.args)
+
+		cmd = NewCommand("grep")
+		cmd.AddOptionGrepExpr("-x")
+		assert.NoError(t, cmd.Run(t.Context()))
+		assert.Equal(t, []string{"grep", "-e", "-x"}, cmd.args)
 	}
 
 	{
diff --git a/modules/git/grep.go b/modules/git/grep.go
index 73313c683e7..b8aeddb1ce4 100644
--- a/modules/git/grep.go
+++ b/modules/git/grep.go
@@ -59,16 +59,14 @@ func GrepSearch(ctx context.Context, repo *Repository, search string, opts GrepO
 	cmd.AddOptionValues("--context", strconv.Itoa(opts.ContextLineNumber))
 	switch opts.GrepMode {
 	case GrepModeExact:
-		cmd.AddArguments("--fixed-strings")
-		cmd.AddOptionValues("-e", strings.TrimLeft(search, "-"))
+		cmd.AddArguments("--fixed-strings").AddOptionGrepExpr(search)
 	case GrepModeRegexp:
-		cmd.AddArguments("--perl-regexp")
-		cmd.AddOptionValues("-e", strings.TrimLeft(search, "-"))
+		cmd.AddArguments("--perl-regexp").AddOptionGrepExpr(search)
 	default: /* words */
 		words := strings.Fields(search)
 		cmd.AddArguments("--fixed-strings", "--ignore-case")
 		for i, word := range words {
-			cmd.AddOptionValues("-e", strings.TrimLeft(word, "-"))
+			cmd.AddOptionGrepExpr(word)
 			if i < len(words)-1 {
 				cmd.AddOptionValues("--and")
 			}
diff --git a/modules/git/grep_test.go b/modules/git/grep_test.go
index cfde0b0f943..3b6e64038b2 100644
--- a/modules/git/grep_test.go
+++ b/modules/git/grep_test.go
@@ -79,6 +79,11 @@ func TestGrepSearch(t *testing.T) {
 	assert.NoError(t, err)
 	assert.Empty(t, res)
 
+	// search a string starting with a dash
+	res, err = GrepSearch(t.Context(), repo, "-v", GrepOptions{})
+	assert.NoError(t, err)
+	assert.Equal(t, []*GrepResult{{Filename: ".gitattributes", LineNumbers: []int{1}, LineCodes: []string{"*.vendor.java linguist-vendored"}}}, res)
+
 	nonExistingRepo := &Repository{RepositoryBase: RepositoryBase{repoFacade: gitrepo.RepositoryUnmanaged("no-such-git-repo")}}
 	res, err = GrepSearch(t.Context(), nonExistingRepo, "no-such-content", GrepOptions{})
 	assert.Error(t, err)