Docker: A list of most frequently used commands

This writeup is a dump of my study notes on most frequently used docker commands for reference. This is just a self reference page and will get updated on the go

• To run a container from an image

docker run <image name>

• To run a docker image with a specific tag. Example below of pulling redis image with tag4.0. You will get these tag details on the dockerhub page for the image

docker run redis:4.0

• To run a docker image in detached mode

docker run -d <image_name>

• To run a docker image and login to the container directly

docker run -it <image_name>

• To list all the docker images

docker images

• To pull a docker image from dockerhub but not run it.

docker pull <image_name>

• To list all the docker containers

docker ps -a

• To stop a docker container

docker stop <container_name>

• To remove a docker container form the disk.
  Note: This will remove the container permanently. It will not list anymore in docker ps -a. However, the image still exists. The exited/stopped containers do not consume any CPU or memory, but they still use the machine’s disk space.

docker rm <container_name>

• To remove a docker image

docker rmi image

• To execute a command in a running docker container

docker exec <container_name> <command>

• To get the ip of a docker container

docker inspect <container_id/container_name> | grep IPAddress

• To map the internal port of a docker container to a host port

docker run -p 80:5000 <image_name>

• To get the logs of a container

docker logs <container_name>

• To build a docker file

docker build . #from being in the dir which has Dockerfile

• To map an external directory at the bootup to a docker container

docker run -v /myCustomdir:/defaultDir -u root imageName