diff --git a/tools/testing/selftests/rcutorture/bin/functions.sh b/tools/testing/selftests/rcutorture/bin/functions.sh
index 436b1542cf27..51f3464b96d3 100644
--- a/tools/testing/selftests/rcutorture/bin/functions.sh
+++ b/tools/testing/selftests/rcutorture/bin/functions.sh
@@ -231,7 +231,7 @@ identify_qemu_args () {
 # Returns the number of virtual CPUs available to the aggregate of the
 # guest OSes.
 identify_qemu_vcpus () {
-	lscpu | grep '^CPU(s):' | sed -e 's/CPU(s)://'
+	lscpu | grep '^CPU(s):' | sed -e 's/CPU(s)://' -e 's/[ 	]*//g'
 }
 
 # print_bug