Interacting with Docker Containers

Throughout the course we have interacted with many different Docker objects. This module covers the additional options for how we can work with them.

Use docker container --help to see all the subcommands associated with Docker containers.

Commands

Attach

Attach local shell to a container's input, output, and error streams:

docker container attach container-id

# equivalent
docker attach container-id

Exec

Run a new command within a container:

docker container exec container-id command

# equivalent
docker exec container-id command

Inspect

Show detailed information about a container:

docker container inspect container-id

Stop and Kill

Stop a container gracefully or forcefully:

docker container stop container-id

# equivalent
docker container stop container-id

docker container kill container-id

# equivalent
docker kill container-id

Logs

View the logs of a container:

docker container logs container-id

# Add -f to tail the logs
docker container logs -f container-id

# equivalent
docker logs -f container-id

List

List all running containers:

docker container ls

# Add -a to list stopped containers as well
docker container ls -a

# equivalent
docker ps -a

Prune

Remove all stopped containers:

docker container prune

Remove

Remove a specific container:

docker container rm container-id

Run

Create a container from an image:

docker container run -it image-name:tag

# equivalent
docker run -it image-name:tag

Top

See what's running inside a container:

docker container top container-id

Wait

Wait for a container to finish before proceeding:

docker container wait container-id

This can be useful if you are scripting something that should only happen after a container exits.