How to List All Running Containers in Docker

Listing All Running Containers

To list all running containers in Docker, you can use the docker ps command. This command will display information about the currently running containers, including their container ID, image, command, creation time, status, and ports.

Here's the basic syntax for the docker ps command:

docker ps [options]

The most common options used with docker ps are:

-a: Show all containers (running and stopped)
-q: Only display the numeric IDs of the containers
-f: Filter the output based on certain conditions

Here's an example of how to use the docker ps command to list all running containers:

$ docker ps
CONTAINER ID   IMAGE         COMMAND                  CREATED         STATUS         PORTS                  NAMES
a1b2c3d4e5f6   nginx:latest  "/docker-entrypoint.…"   10 minutes ago  Up 10 minutes  0.0.0.0:80->80/tcp     web-server
g7h8i9j0k1l2   redis:latest  "docker-entrypoint.s…"   15 minutes ago  Up 15 minutes  0.0.0.0:6379->6379/tcp  cache-server

This output shows that there are two running containers: a web server running the nginx:latest image and a cache server running the redis:latest image.

If you want to see all containers, including those that are stopped, you can use the -a option:

$ docker ps -a
CONTAINER ID   IMAGE         COMMAND                  CREATED         STATUS                     PORTS                  NAMES
a1b2c3d4e5f6   nginx:latest  "/docker-entrypoint.…"   10 minutes ago  Up 10 minutes             0.0.0.0:80->80/tcp     web-server
g7h8i9j0k1l2   redis:latest  "docker-entrypoint.s…"   15 minutes ago  Up 15 minutes             0.0.0.0:6379->6379/tcp  cache-server
m3n4o5p6q7r8   ubuntu:latest "/bin/bash"              30 minutes ago  Exited (0) 25 minutes ago                        test-container

This output shows the same two running containers, plus an additional container that has been stopped.

You can also use the docker ps command to filter the output based on certain conditions. For example, to list only the container IDs of running containers, you can use the -q option:

$ docker ps -q
a1b2c3d4e5f6
g7h8i9j0k1l2

Or, to list all containers with a specific image name, you can use the -f option:

$ docker ps -a -f "image=nginx:latest"
CONTAINER ID   IMAGE         COMMAND                  CREATED         STATUS                     PORTS                  NAMES
a1b2c3d4e5f6   nginx:latest  "/docker-entrypoint.…"   10 minutes ago  Up 10 minutes             0.0.0.0:80->80/tcp     web-server

Here's a Mermaid diagram that illustrates the key concepts related to listing running Docker containers:

graph TD A[Docker CLI] --> B[docker ps] B --> C[List all running containers] B --> D[List all containers (running and stopped)] B --> E[Filter containers by image name] B --> F[Filter containers by ID] B --> G[Display container IDs only]

In summary, the docker ps command is a powerful tool for listing and managing running Docker containers. By using the various options available, you can customize the output to suit your specific needs, whether that's seeing all containers, filtering by image name, or just getting the container IDs.

How to list all running containers?

Listing All Running Containers