In this article we will discuss how to stop and remove a running container by filtering on ID and Name.
To completely remove a running container, first we have to stop it and then remove it.
How to stop a running docker container ?
Suppose we have a running container whose Status is ‘UP’ i.e
CONTAINER ID IMAGE COMMAND CREATED STATUS PORTS NAMES d857536373e3 centos "/bin/bash" 3 minutes ago Up 3 minutes musing_bose
To stop a running container we need to pass the container id or name to stop command i.e.
docker stop <container IDs | container names >
Now let’s stop the above mentioned running container by container ID i.e.
docker stop d857536373e3
Alternatively to stop the container we can pass the container name too i.e.
docker stop musing_bose
Both the above commands will stop the running container, but container is not removed from the system yet. It still exists in system and its status is ‘Exited‘. Let’s fetch the list of all containers to check the status of stopped container i.e.
docker ps -a
Output:
CONTAINER ID IMAGE COMMAND CREATED STATUS PORTS NAMES d857536373e3 centos "/bin/bash" 34 minutes ago Exited (137) 1 minutes ago musing_bose 4622f48ceaed ubuntu "/bin/bash" 34 minutes ago Exited (0) 34 minutes ago hungry_hofstadter ecc42527bba4 ubuntu "/bin/bash" 35 minutes ago Exited (0) 35 minutes ago sharp_kapitsa 6f5190548f7a centos "/bin/bash" 35 minutes ago Exited (0) 35 minutes ago loving_cocks 6708084317a1 centos "/bin/bash" 35 minutes ago Exited (0) 35 minutes ago jovial_diffie af70224e7cc5 centos "/bin/bash" 35 minutes ago Exited (0) 35 minutes ago objective_haibt 121ba587209b centos "/bin/bash" 35 minutes ago Exited (0) 35 minutes ago flamboyant_nobel
In the first line we can see the status of container with ID d857536373e3 is ‘Exited‘.
How to removed the stopped / Exited docker container ?
Now to remove the container completely from the system we need to use docker rm command i.e.
docker rm <container IDs | container names>
It will remove the one or more stopped containers based on IDs or Names provided.
Let’s remove the recently stopped container by container ID i.e.
docker rm d857536373e3
Alternatively to remove the container we can pass the container name too i.e.
docker rm musing_bose
Both the above commands will remove the container with ID d857536373e3 from our docker engine. If we try to remove any running container (status – UP) using docker rm command, then it will through error like this,
Error response from daemon: You cannot remove a running container 1a600547f8f52a57d03f04667b9e8497bf5d2d37b85696b16918ca1187831e0e. Stop the container before attempting removal or force remove
So one way is to stop and then remove container. Also, as mentioned in above error string, there is an an another way to directly remove a running container.
Directly Stop & Remove a running container by force in single command
In docker rm command we can also provide –force or -f option to forcefully remove the containers (internally uses SIGKILL).
Suppose we have a running container i.e.
PS C:\Varun> docker ps
CONTAINER ID IMAGE COMMAND CREATED STATUS PORTS NAMES 1a600547f8f5 centos "/bin/bash" 4 minutes ago Up 4 minutes hungry_kapitsa
Now let’s forcefully remove this container without first stopping it,
docker rm -f 1a600547f8f5
It will directly stop & remove the container from docker engine. Now if we fetch the list of all containers in our system, then this container will not be there i.e.
PS C:\Varun> docker ps CONTAINER ID IMAGE COMMAND CREATED STATUS PORTS NAMES
We can also remove multiple containers using docker rm command i.e.
Suppose we have two running containers with ID 1a600547f8f5 and 3ab005456123. Now to remove both the containers we can pass their ID to rm command i.e.
docker rm -f 1a600547f8f5 3ab005456123
It will forcefully remove both the containers.
Dry run of above used commands:
Get list of all containers,
PS C:\Windows\system32> docker ps -a
CONTAINER ID IMAGE COMMAND CREATED STATUS PORTS NAMES 0d68f20be559 ubuntu "/bin/bash" 5 seconds ago Exited (0) 4 seconds ago cranky_keller 494355aa24f6 ubuntu "/bin/bash" 11 seconds ago Exited (0) 9 seconds ago vibrant_tu 5d79bd7be240 centos "/bin/bash" 16 seconds ago Exited (0) 14 seconds ago hopeful_feynman 7e212f6b8780 centos "/bin/bash" 18 seconds ago Exited (0) 17 seconds ago gifted_chandrasekhar 338b3c461ae7 centos "/bin/bash" 21 seconds ago Exited (0) 20 seconds ago mystifying_williamson 4e88ee8e736e centos "/bin/bash" About an hour ago Up About an hour agitated_chaplygin 8b38ae16205a ubuntu "/bin/bash" About an hour ago Up About an hour silly_napier
Now remove running container with ID 8b38ae16205a
docker stop 8b38ae16205a docker rm 8b38ae16205a
Now remove running container with Name : agitated_chaplygin,
docker stop agitated_chaplygin docker rm agitated_chaplygin
Check if both the above mentioned running containers are removed i.e.
PS C:\Windows\system32> docker ps -a CONTAINER ID IMAGE COMMAND CREATED STATUS PORTS NAMES 0d68f20be559 ubuntu "/bin/bash" 2 minutes ago Exited (0) 2 minutes ago cranky_keller 494355aa24f6 ubuntu "/bin/bash" 2 minutes ago Exited (0) 2 minutes ago vibrant_tu 5d79bd7be240 centos "/bin/bash" 2 minutes ago Exited (0) 2 minutes ago hopeful_feynman 7e212f6b8780 centos "/bin/bash" 2 minutes ago Exited (0) 2 minutes ago gifted_chandrasekhar 338b3c461ae7 centos "/bin/bash" 2 minutes ago Exited (0) 2 minutes ago mystifying_williamson
Containers with ID 8b38ae16205a and Name agitated_chaplygin are not found now. So deleted completely.
Now to remove all the stooped containers we don’t need to pass -f option i.e.
docker rm 0d68f20be559 494355aa24f6 5d79bd7be240 7e212f6b8780 338b3c461ae7
It will delete 5 containers which were in exited state.
But if want to delete 100 containers or remove containers based on conditional filtering then it will be really difficult to pass their container ID one by one. So, in next article we will discuss how to stop & remove multiple containers in a single command.