03 - Docker Basic Commands

Docker basic commands

With Docker installed, learn the everyday commands to manage images and containers.

Info and help

Version

docker --version

System info

docker info

Help

docker help
docker run --help

Image commands

Search on Docker Hub

docker search nginx

Pull image

docker pull nginx:latest

List local images

docker images
# or
docker image ls

Remove image

docker rmi nginx:latest
# or
docker image rm nginx:latest

Container commands

Create & start a container

docker run -d --name my-nginx -p 8080:80 nginx

Flags:

• -d run detached
• --name my-nginx container name
• -p 8080:80 map host 8080 → container 80

List running containers

docker ps

List all containers

docker ps -a

Start/stop/restart

docker start my-nginx
docker stop my-nginx
docker restart my-nginx

Exec into container

docker exec -it my-nginx bash

-i keeps STDIN open; -t allocates a pseudo-TTY.

Logs

docker logs my-nginx
docker logs -f my-nginx

Inspect container

docker inspect my-nginx

Remove container

docker rm my-nginx        # stopped
docker rm -f my-nginx     # force remove running

Practical examples

Run a web server

docker run -d --name webserver -p 8080:80 nginx

Visit http://localhost:8080.

Run a database

docker run -d --name mysql-db \
  -e MYSQL_ROOT_PASSWORD=my-secret-pw \
  -v mysql-data:/var/lib/mysql \
  mysql:5.7

• -e sets env vars.
• -v mounts the named volume.

Resource usage

docker stats

Docker cheat sheet

Summary

You now know the daily Docker commands for images and containers. Next: build custom images with Dockerfile.