diff --git a/django/contrib/admindocs/utils.py b/django/contrib/admindocs/utils.py
index 8cb789016f..b3a0526874 100644
--- a/django/contrib/admindocs/utils.py
+++ b/django/contrib/admindocs/utils.py
@@ -142,6 +142,11 @@ named_group_matcher = _lazy_re_compile(r'\(\?P(<\w+>)')
 unnamed_group_matcher = _lazy_re_compile(r'\(')
 
 
+def replace_metacharacters(pattern):
+    """Remove unescaped metacharacters from the pattern."""
+    return pattern.replace('^', '').replace('$', '').replace('?', '')
+
+
 def replace_named_groups(pattern):
     r"""
     Find named groups in `pattern` and replace them with the group name. E.g.,
diff --git a/django/contrib/admindocs/views.py b/django/contrib/admindocs/views.py
index ab6e75c811..ffe4e13fa4 100644
--- a/django/contrib/admindocs/views.py
+++ b/django/contrib/admindocs/views.py
@@ -8,7 +8,7 @@ from django.contrib import admin
 from django.contrib.admin.views.decorators import staff_member_required
 from django.contrib.admindocs import utils
 from django.contrib.admindocs.utils import (
-    replace_named_groups, replace_unnamed_groups,
+    replace_metacharacters, replace_named_groups, replace_unnamed_groups,
 )
 from django.core.exceptions import ImproperlyConfigured, ViewDoesNotExist
 from django.db import models
@@ -412,8 +412,7 @@ def simplify_regex(pattern):
     """
     pattern = replace_named_groups(pattern)
     pattern = replace_unnamed_groups(pattern)
-    # clean up any outstanding regex-y characters.
-    pattern = pattern.replace('^', '').replace('$', '').replace('?', '')
+    pattern = replace_metacharacters(pattern)
     if not pattern.startswith('/'):
         pattern = '/' + pattern
     return pattern