Docker ps -a command to publish only container names?

General
1

Hello All,

Please find the output from my docker ps -a command.

jim@jim-beam-VirtualBox:~$ docker ps -a
CONTAINER ID IMAGE COMMAND CREATED STATUS PORTS NAMES
c8eb508a5590 d0e7f81ca65c "/bin/bash -c 'while " 14 hours ago Exited (137) 14 hours ago thirsty_roentgen
74b6a39b12c3 d0e7f81ca65c "/bin/bash -c 'while " 14 hours ago Exited (137) 14 hours ago tiny_shirley
8622857d142f d0e7f81ca65c “/bin/bash -c /bin/ba” 14 hours ago Exited (0) 14 hours ago dreamy_ptolemy
e0577d713618 d0e7f81ca65c “/bin/bash -c /bin/ba” 15 hours ago Exited (0) 15 hours ago reverent_goldwasser
f2e8e74bfb5e d0e7f81ca65c “/bin/bash -c /bin/ba” 16 hours ago Exited (0) 16 hours ago suspicious_mahavira
2667f01d3b12 d0e7f81ca65c “/bin/bash -c /bin/ba” 16 hours ago Exited (0) 16 hours ago insane_newton
a935ad7ee86b d0e7f81ca65c “/bin/bash -c /bin/ba” 16 hours ago Exited (0) 16 hours ago ecstatic_fermi
cc69dd90ea7c d0e7f81ca65c “/bin/bash -c /bin/ba” 16 hours ago Exited (0) 16 hours ago elegant_allen
59196ec9e552 d0e7f81ca65c "/bin/bash -c 'while " 16 hours ago Exited (137) 16 hours ago dreamy_bartik
75dd66ba4ad7 d0e7f81ca65c “/bin/bash” 16 hours ago Exited (0) 16 hours ago admiring_mcnulty
cdda24a71231 adejonge/helloworld “/helloworld” 11 days ago Exited (2) 11 days ago boring_hawking
a06da7ec609b adejonge/helloworld “/helloworld” 11 days ago Exited (2) 11 days ago goofy_shockley
jim@jim-beam-VirtualBox:~$

Is there any way just to get names?

I tried with docker ps -a --format but it says flag needs an argument. Where is the source documentation for all arguments/switches?

2

docker ps -q will print only the hex IDs, which is actually just as good for scripting purposes. I type extremely regularly

docker ps -a -q | xargs docker rm -v

which deletes all of the (stopped) containers. (And also its sibling,

docker images -f dangling=true -q | xargs docker rmi

which deletes images with no label and no running container.)

3

Thanks for that. This would be extremely useful for me in my learning.

4

You can also use the --format option for docker ps to set a custom template. All of this depends on what you want to do. If you want to clean up images, I suggest working with docker images directly.

$ docker ps --format '{{.Image}}'
sameersbn/redis:latest
nginx
nginx
nginx
nginx
nginx
5

Awesome !
This is what exactly I wanted. Hoping I am rigjt track.
jim@jim-beam-VirtualBox:~$ docker ps
CONTAINER ID IMAGE COMMAND CREATED STATUS PORTS NAMES
f529b3f6e18b centos "/bin/bash -c 'while " 9 seconds ago Up 9 seconds jolly_mirzakhani
34d543c5bd8c centos "/bin/bash -c 'while " 10 seconds ago Up 10 seconds reverent_hypatia
85d2859bd99d centos "/bin/bash -c 'while " 11 seconds ago Up 11 seconds tender_hypatia
9b2d867b0b57 centos "/bin/bash -c 'while " 13 seconds ago Up 12 seconds gloomy_bhaskara
c1380986824c centos "/bin/bash -c 'while " 15 seconds ago Up 15 seconds tender_mccarthy
3ba112a480cc centos "/bin/bash -c 'while " 11 minutes ago Up About a minute drunk_cori
jim@jim-beam-VirtualBox:~$ docker ps --format ‘{{.Image}}’
centos
centos
centos
centos
centos
centos
jim@jim-beam-VirtualBox:~$ docker ps --format ‘{{.Names}}’
jolly_mirzakhani
reverent_hypatia
tender_hypatia
gloomy_bhaskara
tender_mccarthy
drunk_cori
jim@jim-beam-VirtualBox:~$

Therefore I can write a shell script to manage these applications. Either stop/start or even delete them.

If I want to delete the image I would do with
docker rmi correct?

Can you provide me an example of custom template? I couldn’t get that. Please bear with me as I am still learning. Apologies in advance for silly questions

6

Thank you.

I am thrilled to see that two commands do the same job !

docker ps -a -q | xargs docker rm -v
and
docker ps --format ‘{{.Names}}’|xargs rm -vf

May I know which one to use when ?

7

Yes, docker rmi removes images.

If you just need to clean all containers, the docker ps -aq | xargs docker rm -v notation is a bit easier in my opinion (I usually use a subshell, i.e. docker rm $(docker ps -aq), but they’re practically the same). The format option comes in handy if you want to do something more flexible. The argument passed to the flag is a Golang text/template.

8

Yep, got it. Thank you again !

9

docker ps --format ‘{{.Names}}’

10

docker rm `docker ps -a -q` removes all the stopped containers. You will see error message for running containers

11

➜ webcv git:(master) docker ps --format “table {{.ID}}\t{{.Mounts}}”
CONTAINER ID MOUNTS
5c05e9202d44
a361eadb8c92 8646781e7e331d…,be3ee5f3f95de1…

you can find it here