Doubt about docker-compose down and docker-compose rm commands

General Discussions
1

Hi, i have a question about two commands: docker-compose down and docker-compose rm

I have a different directories for every docker-compose.yml, so when i build containers i jump from dir to dir performing docker-compose up -d

Now, what happens if i want to remove a container? or its image also? I just have to go into the directory where its yml file resides and perform the down command? Or i should use the rm command?

Thanks in advance!

2

Let me execute docker-compose --help for you:

...
down               Stop and remove containers, networks, images, and volumes
...
rm                 Remove stopped containers
...
3

That’s why i’m in doubt, basically they do the same thing, but “down” works also on networks, images, and volumes?

4

I am not realy sure how to respond to that :rofl:

5

rm - won’t remove a container if it’s running. It only removes already stopped containers
down - will stop a running container AND remove it as well. In addition to that it will remove networks, images and volumes

1 Like
6

The ‘down’ option execute the ‘stop’ and ‘rm’ options ( in that order ), plus remove containers and managed networks; and if add the ‘-v’ extra flag, can delete the volumes too.