diff --git a/src/server/startup.tcl b/src/server/startup.tcl
index dd1b31e41..04a1cc046 100644
--- a/src/server/startup.tcl
+++ b/src/server/startup.tcl
@@ -19,3 +19,20 @@ proc prevent_cps {} {
 
 proc POST {args} { prevent_cps }
 proc Host: {args} { prevent_cps }
+
+# list of commands we don't want to appear in autocomplete
+lappend _telnet_autocomplete_skip _telnet_autocomplete_helper
+
+# helper for telnet autocomplete
+proc _telnet_autocomplete_helper pattern {
+	set cmds [info commands $pattern]
+
+	# skip matches in variable '_telnet_autocomplete_skip'
+	foreach skip $::_telnet_autocomplete_skip {
+		foreach n [lsearch -all -regexp $cmds "^$skip\$"] {
+			set cmds [lreplace $cmds $n $n]
+		}
+	}
+
+	return [lsort $cmds]
+}
diff --git a/src/server/telnet_server.c b/src/server/telnet_server.c
index d5e0353c8..acb57efd1 100644
--- a/src/server/telnet_server.c
+++ b/src/server/telnet_server.c
@@ -470,7 +470,7 @@ static void telnet_auto_complete(struct connection *connection)
 	query[usr_cmd_len] = '\0';
 
 	/* filter commands */
-	char *query_cmd = alloc_printf("lsort [info commands {%s*}]", query);
+	char *query_cmd = alloc_printf("_telnet_autocomplete_helper {%s*}", query);
 
 	if (!query_cmd) {
 		LOG_ERROR("Out of memory");