05_deleting_container.md

Docker Lab: Deleting Container

Previously in the lab...

Question: Do we need two running mariadb containers at the same time for this lab?

Answer: No!

So let's delete a container!

Deleting a Container

As for every OS you can barely delete it when it is running! So first we have to stop the container. Some might still know the CONTAINER_ID or the NAME of the container but for those who don't:

$ docker container ls
CONTAINER ID        IMAGE               COMMAND                  CREATED             STATUS              PORTS               NAMES
699e82ed8f1f        mariadb             "docker-entrypoint..."   3 minutes ago       Up 3 minutes        3306/tcp            jolly_bardeen
7cb31f821233        mariadb             "docker-entrypoint..."   32 minutes ago      Up 32 minutes       3306/tcp            upbeat_blackwell

To stop a container you can use the docker stop [CONTAINER ID|NAME] command:

$ docker stop upbeat_blackwell
upbeat_blackwell
$ docker container ls
CONTAINER ID        IMAGE               COMMAND                  CREATED             STATUS              PORTS               NAMES
699e82ed8f1f        mariadb             "docker-entrypoint..."   9 minutes ago       Up 9 minutes        3306/tcp            jolly_bardeen

As an alternative you can also kill a container with the docker kill <CONTAINER ID> command. This stops the container immediately by using the KILL signal.

You may recognize that the container upbeat_blackwell is not present in the container list anymore. docker container ls only shows running container but as always you have a parameter that helps:

$ docker container ls --all

$ docker container ls --all
CONTAINER ID        IMAGE               COMMAND                  CREATED             STATUS                         PORTS               NAMES
699e82ed8f1f        mariadb             "docker-entrypoint..."   12 minutes ago      Up 12 minutes                  3306/tcp            jolly_bardeen
7cb31f821233        mariadb             "docker-entrypoint..."   41 minutes ago      Exited (0) 2 minutes ago                           upbeat_blackwell
67d79f95c712        hello-world         "/hello"                 About an hour ago   Exited (0) About an hour ago                       upbeat_boyd

Now that the upbeat_blackwell container is stopped we can delete it with docker rm [CONTAINER ID|NAME]:

$ docker rm upbeat_blackwell
upbeat_blackwell
$ docker container ls --all
CONTAINER ID        IMAGE               COMMAND                  CREATED             STATUS                         PORTS               NAMES
699e82ed8f1f        mariadb             "docker-entrypoint..."   13 minutes ago      Up 13 minutes                  3306/tcp            jolly_bardeen
67d79f95c712        hello-world         "/hello"                 About an hour ago   Exited (0) About an hour ago                       upbeat_boyd

Note: Always try to clean up as every container is using space on your disk!

Question: Where do these strange names come from?

Obviously you will find it out... in the next lab!

← Environment Variables | Names →