diff --git a/pkg/cmd/issue/view/view.go b/pkg/cmd/issue/view/view.go
index 8e3aa6040..f7838429b 100644
--- a/pkg/cmd/issue/view/view.go
+++ b/pkg/cmd/issue/view/view.go
@@ -14,6 +14,7 @@ import (
 	"github.com/cli/cli/v2/internal/browser"
 	"github.com/cli/cli/v2/internal/ghrepo"
 	"github.com/cli/cli/v2/internal/text"
+	"github.com/cli/cli/v2/pkg/cmd/issue/shared"
 	issueShared "github.com/cli/cli/v2/pkg/cmd/issue/shared"
 	prShared "github.com/cli/cli/v2/pkg/cmd/pr/shared"
 	"github.com/cli/cli/v2/pkg/cmdutil"
@@ -29,7 +30,7 @@ type ViewOptions struct {
 	BaseRepo   func() (ghrepo.Interface, error)
 	Browser    browser.Browser
 
-	SelectorArg string
+	IssueNumber int
 	WebMode     bool
 	Comments    bool
 	Exporter    cmdutil.Exporter
@@ -55,13 +56,23 @@ func NewCmdView(f *cmdutil.Factory, runF func(*ViewOptions) error) *cobra.Comman
 		`, "`"),
 		Args: cobra.ExactArgs(1),
 		RunE: func(cmd *cobra.Command, args []string) error {
-			// support `-R, --repo` override
-			opts.BaseRepo = f.BaseRepo
-
-			if len(args) > 0 {
-				opts.SelectorArg = args[0]
+			issueNumber, baseRepo, err := shared.ParseIssueFromArg(args[0])
+			if err != nil {
+				return err
 			}
 
+			// If the args provided the base repo then use that directly.
+			if baseRepo, present := baseRepo.Value(); present {
+				opts.BaseRepo = func() (ghrepo.Interface, error) {
+					return baseRepo, nil
+				}
+			} else {
+				// support `-R, --repo` override
+				opts.BaseRepo = f.BaseRepo
+			}
+
+			opts.IssueNumber = issueNumber
+
 			if runF != nil {
 				return runF(opts)
 			}
@@ -87,6 +98,11 @@ func viewRun(opts *ViewOptions) error {
 		return err
 	}
 
+	baseRepo, err := opts.BaseRepo()
+	if err != nil {
+		return err
+	}
+
 	lookupFields := set.NewStringSet()
 	if opts.Exporter != nil {
 		lookupFields.AddValues(opts.Exporter.Fields())
@@ -103,7 +119,18 @@ func viewRun(opts *ViewOptions) error {
 	opts.IO.DetectTerminalTheme()
 
 	opts.IO.StartProgressIndicator()
-	issue, baseRepo, err := findIssue(httpClient, opts.BaseRepo, opts.SelectorArg, lookupFields.ToSlice())
+	lookupFields.Add("id")
+
+	issue, err := issueShared.FindIssueOrPR(httpClient, baseRepo, opts.IssueNumber, lookupFields.ToSlice())
+	if err != nil {
+		return err
+	}
+
+	if lookupFields.Contains("comments") {
+		// FIXME: this re-fetches the comments connection even though the initial set of 100 were
+		// fetched in the previous request.
+		err = preloadIssueComments(httpClient, baseRepo, issue)
+	}
 	opts.IO.StopProgressIndicator()
 	if err != nil {
 		var loadErr *issueShared.PartialLoadError
@@ -143,24 +170,6 @@ func viewRun(opts *ViewOptions) error {
 	return printRawIssuePreview(opts.IO.Out, issue)
 }
 
-func findIssue(client *http.Client, baseRepoFn func() (ghrepo.Interface, error), selector string, fields []string) (*api.Issue, ghrepo.Interface, error) {
-	fieldSet := set.NewStringSet()
-	fieldSet.AddValues(fields)
-	fieldSet.Add("id")
-
-	issue, repo, err := issueShared.IssueFromArgWithFields(client, baseRepoFn, selector, fieldSet.ToSlice())
-	if err != nil {
-		return issue, repo, err
-	}
-
-	if fieldSet.Contains("comments") {
-		// FIXME: this re-fetches the comments connection even though the initial set of 100 were
-		// fetched in the previous request.
-		err = preloadIssueComments(client, repo, issue)
-	}
-	return issue, repo, err
-}
-
 func printRawIssuePreview(out io.Writer, issue *api.Issue) error {
 	assignees := issueAssigneeList(*issue)
 	labels := issueLabelList(issue, nil)
diff --git a/pkg/cmd/issue/view/view_test.go b/pkg/cmd/issue/view/view_test.go
index e1798af9f..2dd963687 100644
--- a/pkg/cmd/issue/view/view_test.go
+++ b/pkg/cmd/issue/view/view_test.go
@@ -13,6 +13,7 @@ import (
 	"github.com/cli/cli/v2/internal/gh"
 	"github.com/cli/cli/v2/internal/ghrepo"
 	"github.com/cli/cli/v2/internal/run"
+	"github.com/cli/cli/v2/pkg/cmd/issue/argparsetest"
 	"github.com/cli/cli/v2/pkg/cmdutil"
 	"github.com/cli/cli/v2/pkg/httpmock"
 	"github.com/cli/cli/v2/pkg/iostreams"
@@ -47,6 +48,11 @@ func TestJSONFields(t *testing.T) {
 	})
 }
 
+func TestNewCmdView(t *testing.T) {
+	// Test shared parsing of issue number / URL.
+	argparsetest.TestArgParsing(t, NewCmdView)
+}
+
 func runCommand(rt http.RoundTripper, isTTY bool, cli string) (*test.CmdOut, error) {
 	ios, _, stdout, stderr := iostreams.Test()
 	ios.SetStdoutTTY(isTTY)
@@ -116,7 +122,7 @@ func TestIssueView_web(t *testing.T) {
 			return ghrepo.New("OWNER", "REPO"), nil
 		},
 		WebMode:     true,
-		SelectorArg: "123",
+		IssueNumber: 123,
 	})
 	if err != nil {
 		t.Errorf("error running command `issue view`: %v", err)
@@ -273,7 +279,7 @@ func TestIssueView_tty_Preview(t *testing.T) {
 				BaseRepo: func() (ghrepo.Interface, error) {
 					return ghrepo.New("OWNER", "REPO"), nil
 				},
-				SelectorArg: "123",
+				IssueNumber: 123,
 			}
 
 			err := viewRun(&opts)