diff --git a/tests/rptest/services/redpanda.py b/tests/rptest/services/redpanda.py
index 5a7f657eeac3..84df00ab73dd 100644
--- a/tests/rptest/services/redpanda.py
+++ b/tests/rptest/services/redpanda.py
@@ -1771,7 +1771,7 @@ def redpanda_pid(self, node):
         # we need to look for redpanda pid. pids() method returns pids of both
         # nodejs server and redpanda
         try:
-            cmd = "ps ax | grep -i 'redpanda' | grep -v grep | grep -v 'version' | awk '{print $1}'"
+            cmd = "ps ax | grep -i 'redpanda' | grep -v grep | grep -v 'version'| grep -v \"]\" | awk '{print $1}'"
             for p in node.account.ssh_capture(cmd,
                                               allow_fail=True,
                                               callback=int):