diff --git a/shell/key-bindings.zsh b/shell/key-bindings.zsh
index b64f7916fc7..8a77047c401 100644
--- a/shell/key-bindings.zsh
+++ b/shell/key-bindings.zsh
@@ -98,13 +98,15 @@ bindkey -M viins '\ec' fzf-cd-widget
 fzf-history-widget() {
   local selected num
   setopt localoptions noglobsubst noposixbuiltins pipefail no_aliases 2> /dev/null
-  selected=( $(fc -rl 1 | awk '{ cmd=$0; sub(/^[ \t]*[0-9]+\**[ \t]+/, "", cmd); if (!seen[cmd]++) print $0 }' |
-    FZF_DEFAULT_OPTS="--height ${FZF_TMUX_HEIGHT:-40%} ${FZF_DEFAULT_OPTS-} -n2..,.. --scheme=history --bind=ctrl-r:toggle-sort,ctrl-z:ignore ${FZF_CTRL_R_OPTS-} --query=${(qqq)LBUFFER} +m" $(__fzfcmd)) )
+  selected="$(fc -rl 1 | awk '{ cmd=$0; sub(/^[ \t]*[0-9]+\**[ \t]+/, "", cmd); if (!seen[cmd]++) print $0 }' |
+    FZF_DEFAULT_OPTS="--height ${FZF_TMUX_HEIGHT:-40%} ${FZF_DEFAULT_OPTS-} -n2..,.. --scheme=history --bind=ctrl-r:toggle-sort,ctrl-z:ignore ${FZF_CTRL_R_OPTS-} --query=${(qqq)LBUFFER} +m" $(__fzfcmd))"
   local ret=$?
   if [ -n "$selected" ]; then
-    num=$selected[1]
-    if [ -n "$num" ]; then
+    num=$(awk '{print $1}' <<< "$selected")
+    if [[ "$num" =~ ^[1-9][0-9]*$ ]]; then
       zle vi-fetch-history -n $num
+    else # selected is a custom query, not from history
+      LBUFFER="$selected"
     fi
   fi
   zle reset-prompt