My Docker aliases / cheat-sheet

#docker #tutorial #devops #beginners

I believe that most of us use docker and docker-compose on daily basis, so I decided to share part of my .bashrc file.
Maybe someone will find it useful...

General
Images
Containers
Networks
Volumes
Docker-Compose

Note about pattern I tried to follow for aliases:

for docker commands first letter is always d, for docker compose is dc
if command is related to images then next letter of alias is i, for containers is c and so on...
following this pattern I found it pretty easy to remember all aliases

General

alias dve="docker -v"
alias dl="docker login --username=dragol"

Explanation

dve - prints out current docker version
dl - docker login, will prompt you for password

Images

alias dil="docker images"
alias dip="docker image prune -f"

Explanation

dil - list all docker images available on my machine
dip - remove all dangling images -f is flag for force

Containers

alias dcl="docker ps"
alias dcla="docker ps -a"
alias dcp="docker container prune -f"
alias dci="docker inspect"
alias dciip="docker inspect -f \"{{ .NetworkSettings.IPAddress }}\""
alias dcs="docker start"
alias dcd="docker down"
alias dcr="docker restart"

Explanation

dcl - list running containers
dcla - list all containers
dcp - remove all dangling containers
dci - here you need to pass container id in order to get various information about particular container
dciip - returns container IP address
dcs - here you need to pass container id in order to start container
dcd - here you need to pass container id in order to stop container
dcr - here you need to pass container id in order to restart container

Networks

alias dnl="docker network ls"
alias dni="docker network inspect"
alias dnrm="docker network rm"
alias dnp="docker network prune -f"

Explanation

dnl - list networks
dni - here you need to pass network id in order to see it's details
dnrm - here you need to pass network id in order to delete it
dnp - remove all dangling networks

Volumes

alias dvc="docker volume create"
alias dvl="docker volume ls"
alias dvrm="docker volume rm"
alias dvp="docker volume prune -f"
alias dvi="docker volume inspect"

Explanation

dvc - here you need to pass volume name in order to create it
dvl - list volumes
dvrm - here you need to pass volume id in order to delete it
dvp - remove all dangling volumes
dvi - here you need to pass volumeid in order to see it's details

Docker-Compose

alias dcv="docker-compose -v"
alias dcu="docker-compose up"
alias dcd="docker-compose down"
alias dcb="docker-compose build --no-cache"
alias dcc="docker-compose config"

Explanation

dcv - prints out docker compose version
dcu - start docker compose
dcd - stop docker compose
dcb - new docker compose build from ground up
dcc - check if docker-compose.yml file is valid

Basically, this commands I used the most, I did not post here functions from my .bashrc file (~15), I used them for commands with more the one arguments. Feel free to use them and modify as needed.

Thank you for reading!

Top comments (7)

padaki-pavan • Apr 8 '20

I suggest you to have a look at lazydocker. I use it allthe time, it's amazing.

Viktor Horvath • Jul 23 '20

Nice post some of these are very useful when you Docker all day!

I want to point out one caveat. When you alias the command the <tab> completion defaults to the list of files in the current directory. Aliased commands do not know the context anymore. This is not a problem for the aliases that do not require a subject (most of them). However, with the rest you will need to lookup and type in the subject name / container id. You will also lose the ability to peek at the list as you type by hitting <tab>.

For instance, when you do docker container inspect <container-name> it takes this without alias: doc<tab> conta<tab> in<tab> <tab: listing of container names> and then continue typing partial container name <tab> to complete.

Tab completion also saves you from typos. Docker did a good job making sure you can use it wherever you need to.