diff --git a/grep.c b/grep.c
index 4468519d5c..fc0ed73ef3 100644
--- a/grep.c
+++ b/grep.c
@@ -356,6 +356,18 @@ static NORETURN void compile_regexp_failed(const struct grep_pat *p,
 	die("%s'%s': %s", where, p->pattern, error);
 }
 
+static int is_fixed(const char *s, size_t len)
+{
+	size_t i;
+
+	for (i = 0; i < len; i++) {
+		if (is_regex_special(s[i]))
+			return 0;
+	}
+
+	return 1;
+}
+
 #ifdef USE_LIBPCRE1
 static void compile_pcre1_regexp(struct grep_pat *p, const struct grep_opt *opt)
 {
@@ -602,7 +614,6 @@ static int pcre2match(struct grep_pat *p, const char *line, const char *eol,
 static void free_pcre2_pattern(struct grep_pat *p)
 {
 }
-#endif /* !USE_LIBPCRE2 */
 
 static void compile_fixed_regexp(struct grep_pat *p, struct grep_opt *opt)
 {
@@ -623,11 +634,13 @@ static void compile_fixed_regexp(struct grep_pat *p, struct grep_opt *opt)
 		compile_regexp_failed(p, errbuf);
 	}
 }
+#endif /* !USE_LIBPCRE2 */
 
 static void compile_regexp(struct grep_pat *p, struct grep_opt *opt)
 {
 	int err;
 	int regflags = REG_NEWLINE;
+	int pat_is_fixed;
 
 	p->word_regexp = opt->word_regexp;
 	p->ignore_case = opt->ignore_case;
@@ -636,8 +649,42 @@ static void compile_regexp(struct grep_pat *p, struct grep_opt *opt)
 	if (memchr(p->pattern, 0, p->patternlen) && !opt->pcre2)
 		die(_("given pattern contains NULL byte (via -f <file>). This is only supported with -P under PCRE v2"));
 
-	if (opt->fixed) {
+	pat_is_fixed = is_fixed(p->pattern, p->patternlen);
+	if (opt->fixed || pat_is_fixed) {
+#ifdef USE_LIBPCRE2
+		opt->pcre2 = 1;
+		if (pat_is_fixed) {
+			compile_pcre2_pattern(p, opt);
+		} else {
+			/*
+			 * E.g. t7811-grep-open.sh relies on the
+			 * pattern being restored.
+			 */
+			char *old_pattern = p->pattern;
+			size_t old_patternlen = p->patternlen;
+			struct strbuf sb = STRBUF_INIT;
+
+			/*
+			 * There is the PCRE2_LITERAL flag, but it's
+			 * only in PCRE v2 10.30 and later. Needing to
+			 * ifdef our way around that and dealing with
+			 * it + PCRE2_MULTILINE being an error is more
+			 * complex than just quoting this ourselves.
+			*/
+			strbuf_add(&sb, "\\Q", 2);
+			strbuf_add(&sb, p->pattern, p->patternlen);
+			strbuf_add(&sb, "\\E", 2);
+
+			p->pattern = sb.buf;
+			p->patternlen = sb.len;
+			compile_pcre2_pattern(p, opt);
+			p->pattern = old_pattern;
+			p->patternlen = old_patternlen;
+			strbuf_release(&sb);
+		}
+#else /* !USE_LIBPCRE2 */
 		compile_fixed_regexp(p, opt);
+#endif /* !USE_LIBPCRE2 */
 		return;
 	}