Docker comes with its own rm
command version to assist with docker container removal. Let’s first list all available docker containers:
# docker ps -a CONTAINER ID IMAGE COMMAND CREATED STATUS PORTS NAMES d1c01c8eb336 ubuntu:14.04 "/bin/bash" 5 seconds ago Exited (0) 3 seconds ago ubuntu df7834f86c78 debian:stable "/bin/bash" 10 seconds ago Up 9 seconds debian 9bdd9d49a75b mongo:3 "/entrypoint.sh mong 18 minutes ago Up 18 minutes 27017/tcp mongodb 774b02c9c51a oraclelinux:7 "/bin/bash" 27 minutes ago Up 27 minutes oracle7
Docker’s rm
command will by default remove only stopped containers and thus any attempt to remove a running docker container will result in error message:
# docker rm debian Error response from daemon: Conflict, You cannot remove a running container. Stop the container before attempting removal or use -f FATA[0000] Error: failed to remove one or more containers
To remove a running docker container the actual container must must first stopped or --force
option needs to appended to docker’s rm
command. Example:
# docker rm --force debian debian
The container named debian
is now removed:
# docker ps -a CONTAINER ID IMAGE COMMAND CREATED STATUS PORTS NAMES d1c01c8eb336 ubuntu:14.04 "/bin/bash" 6 minutes ago Exited (0) 6 minutes ago ubuntu 774b02c9c51a oraclelinux:7 "/bin/bash" 7 minutes ago Exited (0) 7 minutes ago oracle7 9bdd9d49a75b mongo:3 "/entrypoint.sh mong 38 minutes ago Exited (0) 4 seconds ago mongodb
To remove a single docker container use its relevant CONTAINER ID
or NAME
in combination with docker’s rm
command. For example let’s remove docker container named mongodb
:
# docker rm mongodb mongodb
Docker’s rm
command also allows for a removal of multiple containers with a single command. To remove multiple docker containers simply append any CONTAINER ID
or container NAME
to a docker’s remove command as an argument. For example lets remove docker container with name ubuntu
a container with an ID 774b02c9c51a
:
# docker rm ubuntu 774b02c9c51a