diff --git a/dokku b/dokku
index 50959c0ecb2..eb7c84afe4e 100755
--- a/dokku
+++ b/dokku
@@ -122,9 +122,11 @@ case "$1" in
 
   cleanup)
     # delete all non-running container
-    docker rm "$(docker ps -a -f 'status=exited' -q)" &> /dev/null &
+    # shellcheck disable=SC2046
+    docker rm $(docker ps -a -f 'status=exited' -q) &> /dev/null &
     # delete unused images
-    docker rmi "$(docker images -f 'dangling=true' -q)" &> /dev/null &
+    # shellcheck disable=SC2046
+    docker rmi $(docker images -f 'dangling=true' -q) &> /dev/null &
     ;;
 
   plugins)
diff --git a/tests/unit/cleanup.bats b/tests/unit/cleanup.bats
index 3c21b490a92..22e0c4f5bde 100644
--- a/tests/unit/cleanup.bats
+++ b/tests/unit/cleanup.bats
@@ -11,12 +11,12 @@ teardown() {
 }
 
 @test "remove exited containers" {
-  run dokku run $TEST_APP hostname
+  # make sure we have many exited containers of the same 'type'
+  run bash -c "for cnt in 1 2 3; do dokku run $TEST_APP hostname; done"
   echo "output: "$output
   echo "status: "$status
-  container="$output"
   assert_success
-  run bash -c "docker ps -a -f 'status=exited' -q --no-trunc=false | grep -q $container"
+  run bash -c "docker ps -a -f 'status=exited' --no-trunc=false | grep '/exec hostname'"
   echo "output: "$output
   echo "status: "$status
   assert_success
@@ -24,7 +24,8 @@ teardown() {
   echo "output: "$output
   echo "status: "$status
   assert_success
-  run bash -c "docker ps -a -f 'status=exited' -q --no-trunc=false | grep -q $container"
+  sleep 5  # wait for dokku cleanup to happen in the background
+  run bash -c "docker ps -a -f 'status=exited' --no-trunc=false | grep '/exec hostname'"
   echo "output: "$output
   echo "status: "$status
   assert_failure