--- a/mercurial/dispatch.py	Thu Feb 02 17:24:05 2023 +0100
+++ b/mercurial/dispatch.py	Thu Feb 02 17:24:16 2023 +0100
@@ -1024,7 +1024,7 @@
     cmd = aliases[0]
     fn = entry[0]
 
-    if cmd and util.safehasattr(fn, b'shell'):
+    if cmd and util.safehasattr(fn, 'shell'):
         # shell alias shouldn't receive early options which are consumed by hg
         _earlyopts, args = _earlysplitopts(args)
         d = lambda: fn(ui, *args[1:])