Docker List Containers

Code:

$ docker container ls -a -f ancestor=3fd9065eaf02

Output:

f. We want to filter containers running before and after a specific container, we can use before and since filter as below:

Code:

$ docker container ls -a -f before=laughing_carson
$ docker container ls -a -f since=laughing_carson

Output:

There are other filters available as well.

Example #3

Learn the use of the ‘–format’ option. If we want to display a specific field of the container or format the output as per our need. We can format based on container ID, image ID, command, ports, etc.

a. If we want to display only container’s ID, then use –format option as below:

Code:

$docker container ls -a --format "{{.ID}}"

Output:

b. If we want to output name with the id then we have to add that field as below:

Code:

$docker container ls -a --format "{{.ID}} {{.Names}}"

Output:

c. We can use the ‘\t’ to make more room between the fields as below:

Code:

$ docker container ls -a --format "{{.ID}} \t {{.Names}}"

Output:

d. We can use multiple fields at the same time and any symbol if you want as shown below:

Code:

$docker container ls -a --format "{{.ID}} -> \t {{.Names}} -> \t {{.Status}}"

Output:

e. We can check labels or any other hidden fields that is not shown by default when we list the containers.

Code:

$ docker container ls -a --format "{{.ID}} \t {{.Names}} \t {{.Labels}} \t {{.Size}}"

Output:

Explanation

• In the above snapshot, only one container has a label i.e. type=db.

f. We can see that the output does not have column headers like ID, Name, Label, etc. We have to use the ‘table’ directives as below:

Code:

$docker container ls -a --format "table {{.ID}} \t {{.Names}} \t {{.Labels}} \t {{.Size}}"

Output:

It gives us a cleaner output as well.

Example #4

We want to list last n created containers. We can do it by using the ‘–last’ or ‘-n’ option as shown below:

Code:

$ docker container ls -n 2

Output:

The above example shows the last 2 created containers and also includes all containers.

Example #5

We can use the ‘-l’ flag to list the latest created container. It shows all the containers regardless of their state without specifying the ‘-a’ flag.

Code:

$docker container ls -l

Output:

Example #6

Sometimes we have issues with the output due to screen size or more columns so by default Docker daemon truncated the output of some columns as below:

Code:

$docker container ls

Output:

Explanation

• In the above snapshot, we see that the ‘COMMAND’ column has been truncated.

We can use the ‘–no-trunc’ option to display full value of that column as below:

Code:

$docker container ls --no-trunc

Output:

We can now see the full container ID and command of the container. We can use this option with the other options as well like format:

Example #7

If we want to list container ID, we can only use the option ‘–quiet’ or ‘-q’. It is similar to using the ‘–format’ option with ID only. We can pipe it to the ‘wc’ command to count the containers as shown below:

Code:

$docker container ls --quiet
$ docker container ls  -a –quiet
$ docker container ls -a –quiet | wc

Output:

Example #8

If we want to display the size of the containers, we have to use the ‘–size’ or ‘-s’ option as shown below. However, we can also output the same thing using the ‘format’ option, but this command is quicker.

Code:

$ docker container ls -a  --size

Output:

Conclusion

We can specify multiple options to get the list of containers however most useful options are the ‘filter’ and the ‘format’ option. We often use the ‘docker ps’ command as we have to type less.

Recommended Articles

This is a guide to Docker List Containers. Here we have discussed how to list containers in docker with examples respectively. You may also have a look at the following articles to learn more –

1. Dockerfile
2. Docker Push
3. Advantages of Docker
4. What is Docker Swarm?