Must-know Docker commands for power users.

 

Container Management

• docker ps # Lists running containers
• docker ps -a # Lists all containers (including stopped ones)
• docker run [image] # Creates and runs a container based on an image
• docker start [id/name] # Starts a stopped container
• docker stop [id/name] # Stops a running container
• docker restart [id/name] # Restarts a container
• docker rm [id/name] # Removes a stopped container
• docker exec -it [id/name] /bin/sh # Runs a command inside a container
• docker logs [id/name] # Shows the logs of a container
• docker inspect [id/name] # Shows details of a container
• docker port [id/name] # Shows the ports assigned to a container
• docker stats [id/name] # Displays resource usage statistics for containers
• docker top [id/name] # Shows running processes inside a container

Image Management

• docker images # Lists available images locally
• docker pull [image] # Downloads an image from a repository
• docker rmi [image] # Removes a local image
• docker build -t [image-name] . # Builds an image from a Dockerfile
• docker tag [id/name] [new-name] # Tags an image
• docker push [image-name] # Pushes an image to a repository

Volume Management

• docker volume create [volume-name] # Creates a volume
• docker volume ls # Lists all volumes
• docker volume inspect [volume-name] # Shows details of a volume
• docker volume rm [volume-name] # Removes a volume

Docker Networks

• docker network ls # Lists all networks
• docker network create [network-name] # Creates a network
• docker network inspect [network-name] # Shows details of a network
• docker network connect [network-name] [container-id/name] # Connects a container to a network
• docker network disconnect [network-name] [container-id/name] # Disconnects a container from a network
• docker network rm [network-name] # Removes a network

Docker Compose Management

• docker-compose up # Starts the services defined in docker-compose.yml
• docker-compose down # Stops and removes the containers, networks, and volumes created by docker-compose
• docker-compose ps # Lists containers managed by docker-compose
• docker-compose logs # Shows logs of services managed by docker-compose
• docker-compose exec [service] [command] # Runs a command inside a container managed by docker-compose
• docker-compose build # Builds images defined in docker-compose.yml
• docker-compose pull # Pulls images defined in docker-compose.yml
• docker-compose restart # Restarts services managed by docker-compose

Inspection and Debugging

• docker inspect [resource] # Shows details of any resource (container, image, network, volume)
• docker events # Shows real-time events from the Docker engine
• docker info # Displays detailed information about the Docker environment
• docker history [image] # Shows the build history of an image
• docker diff [id/name] # Shows filesystem changes in a container
• docker logs -f [id/name] # Follows the logs of a container in real-time

Other Useful Commands

• docker system df # Shows disk usage by images, containers, and volumes
• docker system prune # Removes unused data (stopped containers, unreferenced images, etc.)
• docker attach [id/name] # Attaches to the console of a running container
• docker cp [id/name]:[path-inside] [local-path] # Copies files from a container to your local machine
• docker save -o [file.tar] [image] # Saves an image to a tar file
• docker load -i [file.tar] # Loads an image from a tar file
• docker export [id/name] > [file.tar] # Exports the filesystem of a container
• docker import [file.tar] # Imports a tar file as a Docker image