Quick Commands for Docker Containers

It's being a while that I work with Docker, and some commands are on top of my head, some don't. These commands are commonly used on a normal container management routine (not including networking layer). If you are getting started with Docker or it's the situation like "can't remember that command...", this might be handy.

List Running Containers

	docker ps --all
	# Output example
	# CONTAINER ID IMAGE COMMAND CREATED STATUS PORTS NAMES
	# 183188078a50 ubuntu "bash" 4 minutes ago Created ubuntu
	# 1b61fd72fefc web_web "bash -c 'pip instal…" 2 hours ago Up 2 hours 0.0.0.0:8000->8000/tcp django
	# 58e2d4a52190 postgres:latest "docker-entrypoint.s…" 2 weeks ago Up 2 hours 5432/tcp postgres

view raw show_running_and_stopped_containers.sh hosted with ❤ by GitHub

Create Container

	# Creates and interactive container (-it) with name (--name) ubuntu_test
	docker create --name ubuntu -it ubuntu bash

view raw create_container.sh hosted with ❤ by GitHub

Rename Container

	docker ps --all
	# CONTAINER ID IMAGE COMMAND CREATED STATUS PORTS NAMES
	# fc8c543eb199 web_web "bash -c 'pip3 insta…" 42 hours ago Exited (0) 39 hours ago django
	# 35ba4e983483 ubuntu "bash" 4 weeks ago Exited (0) 4 weeks ago ubuntu_test_x11
	# 58e2d4a52190 postgres:latest "docker-entrypoint.s…" 6 weeks ago Exited (0) 39 hours ago postgres
	docker rename ubuntu_test_x11 ubuntu
	docker ps --all
	# CONTAINER ID IMAGE COMMAND CREATED STATUS PORTS NAMES
	# fc8c543eb199 web_web "bash -c 'pip3 insta…" 42 hours ago Exited (0) 39 hours ago django
	# 35ba4e983483 ubuntu "bash" 4 weeks ago Exited (0) 4 weeks ago ubuntu
	# 58e2d4a52190 postgres:latest "docker-entrypoint.s…" 6 weeks ago Exited (0) 39 hours ago postgres

view raw rename_container.sh hosted with ❤ by GitHub

Run Container

docker start ubuntu_test

view raw run_container.sh hosted with ❤ by GitHub

List Container Processes

	docker top ubuntu
	# UID PID PPID C STIME TTY TIME CMD
	# root 16396 16373 0 12:44 pts/0 00:00:00 bash

view raw list_container_process.sh hosted with ❤ by GitHub

List Container Directory

	docker exec -it ubuntu sh -c "ls -l /var/log"
	# total 416
	# -rw-r--r-- 1 root root 17514 Jun 16 20:43 alternatives.log
	# drwxr-xr-x 1 root root 4096 Jun 16 20:43 apt
	# -rw-r--r-- 1 root root 58592 Apr 16 00:11 bootstrap.log
	# -rw-rw---- 1 root utmp 0 Apr 16 00:11 btmp
	# -rw-r--r-- 1 root root 276622 Jun 16 20:43 dpkg.log
	# -rw-r--r-- 1 root root 3328 Jun 16 20:39 faillog
	# -rw-r--r-- 1 root root 1321 Jun 16 20:39 fontconfig.log
	# -rw-rw-r-- 1 root utmp 30368 Jun 16 20:39 lastlog
	# drwxr-xr-x 2 root adm 4096 Jun 16 20:39 nginx
	# drwxrwxr-t 2 root postgres 4096 Jun 16 20:39 postgresql
	# drwxr-xr-x 2 rabbitmq rabbitmq 4096 Apr 6 05:18 rabbitmq
	# drwxr-xr-x 2 root root 4096 Dec 23 2019 sysstat
	# -rw-rw-r-- 1 root utmp 0 Apr 16 00:11 wtmp

view raw list_container_directory.sh hosted with ❤ by GitHub

Copy From Container

	# Need to pass container name and fully qualified path
	# for the file and the destination dir on host machine.
	docker cp ubuntu_test:/test.txt /root

view raw copy_file_from_container.sh hosted with ❤ by GitHub

Attach to Container

	# For example, if the container is interactive, this will drop you inside the container
	# with a shell ready to type commands inside the containers environment.
	docker attach ubuntu
	# The normal operation of commands inside the container is allowed,
	# just as running on your machine terminal.
	#
	# ivanleoncz@ilex-an5:~ $ docker attach ubuntu_test_x11
	# root@183188078a50:/# apt-get update
	# Get:1 http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu focal InRelease [265 kB]
	# Get:2 http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu focal-security InRelease [114 kB]
	# Get:3 http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu focal-security/restricted amd64 Packages [328 kB]
	# ...
	# root@183188078a50:/# apt-get install python3 python3-dev python3-pip python3-venv
	# root@183188078a50:/# touch test.txt

view raw attach_local_stdio_to_running_container.sh hosted with ❤ by GitHub

Open BASH Inside Container

	docker exec -it ubuntu bash
	# This is different than attaching your stdio, stdout and stderr to the container.

view raw execute_bash_inside_container.sh hosted with ❤ by GitHub

Stop Container

docker stop ubuntu

view raw stop_container.sh hosted with ❤ by GitHub