Docker Reference

Command/option	Description
Containers	Containers are light-weight virtual machines
docker create image [cmd]	Create container from image
docker rename container newname	Rename container
docker rm container	Remove a container
-f	Force
-v	Also delete volumes
docker pull image[:tag]	Pull image from repository
docker start container	Start container
docker stop container	Stop container
docker restart container	Restart container
docker wait container	Wait until container stops
docker attach container	Attach to container
ctrl-P ctrl-Q	Detach from container
docker ps	List running containers
-a	List all containers (including stopped)
-s	Display file sizes
docker logs container	Fetch logs from a container
-f	Follow output
-t	Show timestamps
-tail n	Show n last lines
docker inspect name/id	Show low-level information on objects
docker port container	Show port mappings
docker top container	Show running processes inside container
docker stats [containers...]	Show statistics from containers
docker cp container:path dest	Copy files or folders from a container to the file system
docker cp src container:path	Copy files or folders from the file system to a container
docker exec -it container sh -c "echo a && echo b"	Execute a command in a container, interactively - command must be an executable, this is how you chain commands
docker exec -d container touch /tmp/myfile	Execute a command and detach
Run containers
docker run image [cmd]	Create container and run
General:
-d	Detach into background and print container ID
--name name	Set name
--restart unless-stopped	Always restart container (unless stopped manually)
--rm	Remove on exit
-w dir	Work directory inside container
Environment and TTY:
-a pipe	Attach container to pipe (e.g. `cat file.txt
-e var	Expose local environment variable to the container
-e var=value	Set environment variable in the container
--env-file filename	Set environment variable in the container from key=value file
-i	Interactive
-t	Allocate pseudo-tty
Limits:
-m 8g	Limit to 8G memory
--cpus=1.5	Limit to number of CPUs
Networking:
-h hostname	Set hostname
-p 80:5000	Bind container port 5000 to host port 80
-p 127.0.0.1:80:5000	Bind container port 5000 to localhost:80 only
Volumes:
--read-only	Make volume readonly
-v path	Mount the current directory as a path inside the container (e.g. /foo)
-v localpath:path	Mount a specific directory as a path (e.g. /home/data:/foo or c:\data:d:)
-v localfile:file	Mount a specific file as a container file (e.g. /home/data/httpd.conf:/etc/httpd.conf)
-v volume:path	Mount a docker volume as a path (e.g. mydata:/foo)
Images	Images are templates for docker containers
docker images [-a]	Show all images (-a for all including intermediates)
docker build [-f filename]	Build an image from ./Dockerfile (or named file with -f)
docker rmi [-f] image	Remove an image (-f = force)
docker image prune	Prune unused images
Volumes	Free-floating file systems
docker volume create [volume]	Create a new volume
docker volume rm [-f] volumes...	Remove volume(s) (-f = force)
docker volume ls	List volumes
docker volume inspect volumes...	Display detailed information about volume(s)

 

Remember:

• For greatest security, it's best to run docker images inside a virtual machine.
• Docker image ID's are sensitive information and should be treated like passwords.
• docker run --pids-limit=64 will limit the number of processes inside a container, to prevent fork bombs.
• Avoid using latest image tags.