Base Docker commands

I had to write this article for myself, because there are a lot of Docker commands I need to remembered.

docker ps / docker ps -a

This is for list running / list all (running & stopped) containers

docker image ls / images

This is for list of all images in Docker Engine on your host.

docker image rm <image_name> / rmi <image_name>

This is for delete image.

Note, you should remove all containers made from this image first. To do it:

docker rm <container_name>

But! You can’t delete running container, so first you should stop it:

docker stop <container_name>

Next,

docker run <image_name> / docker run <image_name> <cmd to run inside>

Create container from image and run this container / with some command inside this container. Flag -d allows to run container in detach mode (like daemon). In this case you won’t see output of container in terminal. You can again attach to container’s output by this command:

docker attach <container_name>

docker exec <container_name> <cmd to run inside>

Execute command inside already running container. You can also run it by executing:

docker exec -it <container_name> sh

After it you’ll enter to container shell and could run any command you need.

By default there is no any port forwarding between container and host. To set it, use -p flag, at the left side is host port, at the right side container port:

docker run -p <host_port>:<app_port_inside_container> <some_image>

To map host folder with container folder, use flag -v (volume). Sequence the same:

docker run -v <host/dir>:<container/dir> <some_image>

Some other useful commands: Show service info about container

docker inspect <some_container>

Show logs (stdout)

docker logs <some_container>