Essential Docker Commands Cheat Sheet – That Every Developer Should Know

Docker is a powerful platform for developing, shipping, and running applications using containerization. It allows developers to package applications and their dependencies into containers, ensuring consistency across various environments from development to production. This portability reduces the "it works on my machine" problem, streamlines collaboration, and speeds up deployment cycles. Docker's lightweight and scalable nature makes it ideal for microservices architecture, improving resource utilization and operational efficiency. In today's fast-paced tech landscape, Docker plays a vital role in enabling continuous integration and continuous deployment (CI/CD), simplifying cloud migration, and fostering a robust DevOps culture, ultimately driving innovation and agility in software development.

Here are some frequently used Docker commands or cheat sheet along with brief explanations:

1. docker pull <image>:

- Pulls an image from a registry (e.g., Docker Hub).

2. docker images:

- Lists all images stored locally.

3. docker build -t <image_name> .:

- Builds an image from a Dockerfile in the current directory.

4. docker rmi <image>:

- Removes one or more images.

1. docker run <image>:

- Runs a command in a new container from the specified image.

2. docker ps:

- Lists all running containers.

3. docker ps -a:

- Lists all containers, including stopped ones.

4. docker stop <container>:

- Stops a running container.

5. docker start <container>:

- Starts a stopped container.

6. docker restart <container>:

- Restarts a running or stopped container.

7. docker rm <container>:

- Removes one or more stopped containers.

8. docker exec -it <container> <command>:

- Runs a command in a running container (interactive terminal).

1. docker volume create <volume_name>:

- Creates a new volume.

2. docker volume ls:

- Lists all volumes.

3. docker volume rm <volume_name>:

- Removes one or more volumes.

1. docker network create <network_name>:

- Creates a new network.

2. docker network ls:

- Lists all networks.

3. docker network rm <network_name>:

- Removes one or more networks.

1. docker-compose up:

- Builds, (re)creates, starts, and attaches to containers for a service defined in a docker-compose.yml file.

2. docker-compose down:

- Stops containers and removes containers, networks, volumes, and images created by up.

3. docker-compose build:

- Builds or rebuilds services.

4. docker-compose logs:

- Displays log output from services.

1. docker login:

- Logs in to a Docker registry.

2. docker logout:

- Logs out from a Docker registry.

3. docker info:

- Displays system-wide information about Docker.

These commands cover a wide range of Docker functionalities for managing images, containers, volumes, networks, and more. Feel free to share commands that you’re using, we will add them in this cheat sheet.