Essential Docker Commands Every Cloud‑Native Engineer Should Know

1. Docker Basics

Check the Docker engine version, system information, and get help for commands.

docker --version

docker version

docker info

docker --help

docker system df

docker stats

2. Image (Image) Operations

List, pull, search, delete, inspect, build, and clean up images.

docker images

docker image ls -a

docker pull nginx

docker search nginx --filter stars=1000

docker search redis

docker rmi <em>image_id</em>

docker rmi -f <em>image_id</em>

docker inspect <em>image_id</em>

docker build -t myapp:1.0 .

docker image prune

3. Container (Container) Operations

Run, list, start, stop, restart, remove, exec into containers, and view logs or details.

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

docker ps

docker ps -a

docker start <em>container_id</em>

docker stop <em>container_id</em>

docker restart <em>container_id</em>

docker rm <em>container_id</em>

docker rm -f <em>container_id</em>

docker exec -it <em>container_id</em> /bin/bash

docker logs <em>container_id</em>

docker logs -f <em>container_id</em>

docker inspect <em>container_id</em>

4. Network Operations

List, create, inspect, and delete Docker networks.

docker network ls

docker network create my-net

docker network inspect my-net

docker network rm my-net

5. Volume Operations

List, create, inspect, and remove Docker volumes.

docker volume ls

docker volume create my-volume

docker volume inspect my-volume

docker volume rm my-volume

6. Cleanup & Maintenance

Remove stopped containers, unused resources, and perform a full system prune (use with caution in production).

docker container prune

docker system prune

docker system prune -a