The Ultimate Docker Cheat Sheet – Quick Reference

A Docker cheat sheet is a set of notes used for quick reference while using Docker in the real world. I have prepared a Docker cheat sheet that includes an extensive list of Docker commands.

Here, I am presenting my Docker Cheat Sheet (a one-page guide) with all common terms and useful one-liners commands. You can use it as a quick reference guide when working with Docker. If you want to learn more about Docker with detail information and examples, you can read the rest of the article.

If you want to host Docker on Cloud and don’t know how to choose the best Cloud hosting provider. You can read my guide on The 8 Best Docker Hosting Platforms in 2022.

Docker Basic Commands
COMMANDS	DESCRIPTIONS
systemctl start docker	Start Docker service
systemctl restart docker	Restart Docker service
systemctl enable docker	Enable Docker to start at reboot
systemctl status docker	Check Docker service status
docker –version	Check Docker version
docker info	Print Docker information in detail
docker system df	Check disk space being used by your containers
Docker Container Commands
docker ps Or docker container ls	List only running containers
docker ps -a Or docker container ls -a	List both running and stopped containers
docker ps -l	List the latest created containers
docker ps -s	List all containers by their size
docker ps -qa	List all containers by their ID
docker stats	Show running container stats
docker start container-name	Start a container
docker restart container-name	Restart a container
docker stop container-name	Stop a container
docker stop $(docker ps -aq)	Stop all running container
docker exec -it container-name /bin/bash	SSH into container
docker logs container-name	Check log of a container
docker top container-name	Check the running process in a container
docker inspect -f “{{ .NetworkSettings.IPAddress }}” container-name	Check the IP address of a container
docker container rename oldname newname	Rename a container
Docker Run Commands
docker container run –name container image	Run a container from an image
docker container run -d image-name	Run a container in detached mode
docker container run -it image-name /bin/bash	Run a container in interactive mode
docker container run -d -p [host-port]:[container-port] image-name	Run a container and publish a container port
docker container run –rm image-name	Run a container that automatically removes a container when it exits
Copy a File Between Container and Host
docker cp container-name:/file/path /host/path	Copy a file from container to host
docker cp /host/file/path container-name:/path/	Copy a file from host to container
Docker Image Commands
docker images	List all Docker images
docker tag oldname:tag newname:tag	Rename an image
docker search image-name	Search available images on the Docker Hub
docker history image-name	Check command history of any image
docker build -t image-name Dockerfile	Build an Image from Dockerfile
Docker Registry and Repository
docker login	Login to Docker registry
docker logout	Logout from a Docker registry
docker search image-name	Search an image from the Docker registry
docker pull myimage:tag	Pull an image from a registry
docker push myrepo/myimage	Push an image to registry
Import and Export Container and Image
docker save -o image.tar image-name	Export an image to a TAR archive
docker load < image.tar	Import an image from a TAR archive
docker commit container-name image-name	Create an image from a container
docker export container-name > container.tar	Export a container to a TAR archive
docker import container-name < container.tar	Import a container from TAR archive
Remove Container, Image, Network and Volume
docker container rm container-name	Remove a stopped container
docker container prune -f	Remove all stopped container
docker rmi image-name	Remove an unused Docker image
docker rmi $(docker images -a -q)	Remove all unused Docker images
docker image prune -a	Remove all dangling images
docker system prune -af	Remove unused and dangling images, networks, containers, and volumes
docker volume rm volume-name	Remove a Docker volume
docker network rm network-name	Remove a Docker network

Conclusion

In the above Docker Cheat Sheet, you learned all docker commands with a brief description. You can now use this Docker Cheat Sheet as a quick reference guide when working with Docker.

To learn more about Docker check out my all published docker-tutorial.