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Docker 12 Commands

Docker CLI Cheatsheet

Container virtualization and orchestration syntax cheatsheet — cover runtimes, images, storage networking, and compose layouts.

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Container Management

docker run -d -p 80:80 [img]

Run a container in the background (detached) with port forwarding.

docker run -d -p 8080:80 nginx
docker ps

List running containers. Add `-a` to show stopped ones.

docker ps -a
docker stop [id]

Stop a running container gracefully.

docker stop webserver-01
docker exec -it [id] bash

Open an interactive terminal session inside a container.

docker exec -it db-container bash
docker rm [id]

Remove a container instance from the host system.

docker rm -f test-api

Images Operations

docker build -t [name] .

Build a Docker image from a local Dockerfile in current directory.

docker build -t myapp:1.0 .
docker images

List all local Docker images stored on system.

docker images | grep myapp
docker rmi [img]

Remove one or more images from the host system.

docker rmi nginx:alpine
docker pull [img]

Download an image from Docker Hub repository.

docker pull postgres:15-alpine

Volumes & Compose

docker volume create [name]

Create a persistent volume mount for container data storage.

docker volume create pgdata
docker-compose up -d

Build and start all compose stack services in background.

docker-compose up -d --build
docker-compose down

Stop and remove all containers, networks, and images in compose.

docker-compose down -v