Master Essential Docker Commands: A Quick Reference for Container Operations

Image Operations

Pull an image from a registry: docker pull nginx:latest List local images: docker images Remove a local image: docker rmi nginx:latest Build a new image from a Dockerfile:

docker build -t myapp:1.0 .

Container Operations

Run a container (most common usage): docker run -d -p 8080:80 --name mynginx nginx Common flags: -d – run in background -p – map host port to container port --name – assign a name to the container -v – mount a volume -e – set environment variables

List running containers: docker ps List all containers (including stopped): docker ps -a Stop a container: docker stop mynginx Start a stopped container: docker start mynginx Restart a container: docker restart mynginx Remove a container: docker rm mynginx Force‑remove a container:

docker rm -f mynginx

Container Troubleshooting

View container logs (follow mode): docker logs -f mynginx Enter a running container for interactive debugging: docker exec -it mynginx /bin/bash Enter an Alpine‑based container: docker exec -it mynginx /bin/sh Inspect detailed container information: docker inspect mynginx Show real‑time resource usage of containers:

docker stats

Data and Network

List Docker volumes: docker volume ls List Docker networks: docker network ls Inspect a specific network (e.g., bridge):

docker network inspect bridge

System Management

Clean up unused resources (images, containers, networks, volumes): docker system prune -a Export an image to a tar archive: docker save -o nginx.tar nginx Import an image from a tar archive: docker load -i nginx.tar Commit a running container as a new image:

docker commit mynginx mynginx:v2

Five Core Commands

If you only remember five Docker commands, they are:

docker run

docker ps

docker logs -f

docker exec -it

docker system prune

These commands can resolve roughly 80 % of common production issues related to containerized services.