diff --git a/python/ray/autoscaler/_private/command_runner.py b/python/ray/autoscaler/_private/command_runner.py
index d37d16382..3b3692a2c 100644
--- a/python/ray/autoscaler/_private/command_runner.py
+++ b/python/ray/autoscaler/_private/command_runner.py
@@ -669,8 +669,7 @@ class DockerCommandRunner(CommandRunnerInterface):
         if user_pos > -1:
             if self.home_dir is None:
                 self.home_dir = self.ssh_command_runner.run(
-                    "docker exec {} env | grep HOME | cut -d'=' -f2".format(
-                        self.container_name),
+                    f"docker exec {self.container_name} printenv HOME",
                     with_output=True).decode("utf-8").strip()
 
             if any_char: