--- a/mercurial/templater.py	Sat May 19 18:49:07 2018 +0530
+++ b/mercurial/templater.py	Sat May 19 18:51:14 2018 +0530
@@ -253,7 +253,8 @@
     p = parser.parser(elements)
     try:
         while pos < stop:
-            n = min((tmpl.find(c, pos, stop) for c in sepchars),
+            n = min((tmpl.find(c, pos, stop)
+                     for c in pycompat.bytestr(sepchars)),
                     key=lambda n: (n < 0, n))
             if n < 0:
                 yield ('string', unescape(tmpl[pos:stop]), pos)