Master Docker: The Complete Command Cheat Sheet for Images, Containers, Volumes, and Networks

Docker Image Management Commands

1. List local images docker images Displays all images stored locally.

2. Pull an image docker pull nginx Downloads the latest nginx image from Docker Hub. To pull a specific tag, append :tag (e.g., docker pull mysql:8.0).

3. Remove an image docker rmi nginx Deletes the specified image; add -f to force removal.

4. Search for images docker search redis Searches Docker Hub for images matching the keyword.

5. Build an image docker build -t myapp:1.0 . Builds an image from a Dockerfile in the current directory, tagging it as myapp:1.0.

-t : specify image name and tag

. : path to the

Dockerfile

Docker Container Management Commands

6. Run a container docker run -d -p 80:80 --name mynginx nginx -d : run in background

-p : map host port to container port

--name : assign a name to the container

7. List running containers docker ps 8. List all containers (including stopped) docker ps -a 9. Start a stopped container docker start container_id 10. Stop a running container docker stop container_id 11. Restart a container docker restart container_id 12. Remove a container docker rm container_id Use -f to force removal of a running container.

Container Debugging Commands

13. Execute a command inside a container docker exec -it container_id /bin/bash -i : interactive

-t : allocate a pseudo‑TTY

14. View container logs docker logs container_id Use -f to follow logs in real time.

15. Inspect container details docker inspect container_id Outputs detailed JSON information about the container.

Volume Management

16. Create a volume docker volume create mydata 17. List volumes docker volume ls 18. Remove a volume

docker volume rm mydata

Network Management

19. List networks docker network ls 20. Create a network docker network create mynet 21. Inspect a network

docker network inspect bridge

Image and Container Import/Export

22. Export a container to a tar archive docker export container_id > container.tar 23. Import a tar archive as an image docker import container.tar myimage:1.0 24. Save an image to a tar file docker save nginx > nginx.tar 25. Load an image from a tar file

docker load < nginx.tar

Docker System Management Commands

26. Show Docker version docker version 27. Show system information docker info 28. Prune unused resources docker system prune -a Removes stopped containers, unused images, and unused networks.