Blog

CONTAINERS2017 - Removing Containers

Luis Majano September 14, 2017

Spread the word

Luis Majano

September 14, 2017

Spread the word


Share your thoughts

The Docker CLI has an extensive suite of commands built-in and it can be painful to remember all of them. So as part of our containers roadshow, we will be blogging about useful tips and tricks for working with containers. We all make mistakes and we all need to be able remove containers from time to time. So let's go ahead and start!

Remove one or more specific containers

Use the docker ps command with the -a flag to locate the name/ID of the containers you want to remove:

# list
docker ps -a

# remove
docker rm ID/nameID/name

Remove Container Upon Exit

If you want to cleanup after yourself, then you can automatically delete a container once it exists from runnable operation using the docker run --rm command.

docker run --rm image_name

Remove All Exited Containers

You can locate containers using docker ps -a and filter them by their status: created, restarting, running, paused, or exited. To review the list of exited containers, use the -f flag to filter based on status. When you've verified you want to remove those containers, using -q to pass the IDs to the docker rm command.

docker ps -a -f status=exited
docker rm $(docker ps -a -f status=exited -q)

Remove Containers Using More Than 1 Filter

Docker filters can be combined by repeating the filter flag with an additional value.

docker ps -a -f status=exited -f status=created
docker rm $(docker ps -a -f status=exited -f status=created -q)

Remove Containers According to Patterns

You can find all the containers that match a pattern using a combination of docker ps and grep. When you're satisfied that you have the list you want to delete, you can use awk and xargs to supply the ID to docker rmi. Please note this will only work on unix based systems.

docker ps -a |  grep "pattern”
docker ps -a | grep "pattern" | awk '{print $3}' | xargs docker rmi

Stop and remove all containers

You can review the containers on your system with docker ps. Adding the -a flag will show all containers. Then you can get funky and pass them to the stop or rm commands.

docker ps -a
docker stop $(docker ps -a -q)
docker rm $(docker ps -a -q)

Add Your Comment

Recent Entries

Into the Box Sessions Round 2 and Team Packs!

Into the Box Sessions Round 2 and Team Packs!

The second round of Into the Box sessions is here, packed with incredible new topics, sessions and expert speakers industry leaders in modern CFML getting us modern content and practices you can use to make your coding experience and projects better, faster and easy and expert-led talks on modern web development, serverless applications, cryptography, UI design, and more.

Maria Jose Herrera
Maria Jose Herrera
February 25, 2025
Building Serverless Functions with BoxLang in AWS Lambda!

Building Serverless Functions with BoxLang in AWS Lambda!

The serverless computing model has revolutionized the way we deploy and manage applications, and with BoxLang, it’s easier than ever to leverage AWS Lambda for efficient, scalable execution of cloud functions. In a recent blog post, Ray Camden explored the process of building and deploying BoxLang functions in AWS Lambda. Let’s take a closer look at how it works!

Maria Jose Herrera
Maria Jose Herrera
February 24, 2025
ColdBox Training: From Hero to Superhero – Master ColdFusion and BoxLang Development

ColdBox Training: From Hero to Superhero – Master ColdFusion and BoxLang Development

Are you ready to take your ColdBox development skills for ColdFusion and BoxLang to the next level? Whether you're new to ColdBox or looking to sharpen your expertise, our ColdBox From Hero to Superhero training is the perfect opportunity to become a ColdFusion and BoxLang powerhouse.

Why Attend?

This hands-on training is designed to help ColdFusion and BoxLang developers level up their ...

Cristobal Escobar
Cristobal Escobar
February 19, 2025