Episode 10. Deleting Images and Containers

Lots of times it happens we have created multiple containers that are unused or duplicated. It is good practice to remove them from time to time.

A. Deleting Containers:

We can delete docker containers using the below containers:

Method 1 (Using Terminal or Command Prompt):

i. Get container ID to delete

docker ps -a

ii. Delete contained

→ We can delete multiple containers at once.

docker rm <container-id-1> <container-id-2> <container-id-3>

NOTE:

We cannot delete running containers. We need to stop the container first.

iii. Stop the container

docker stop <running-container-id>      // Stop container
docker rm <running-container-id>        // Remove container

iv. Delete all containers at once:

docker container prune

Method 2 (Microsoft’s Docker extension):

→ This method is applicable if we are using Visual Studio Code editor.

→ Install Docker extension

→ Go to the Docker extension from the left.

→ Here we will see a visual representation of containers and an image

→ Right-click on the container, click Remove

B. Deleting Images:

Method 1:

i. Get the list of images

docker images 

ii. Deleting Images

→ We can delete multiple images at once such as node, python, PHP, etc.

docker rmi <image-ID>.  // Delete single
docker rmi <image-ID-1> <image-ID-2> <image-ID-3> // Delete multiple

NOTE: We cannot delete directly running images. We need to stop all the running containers using the image, then we delete it.

iii. Stop image

docker images            // check images
docker stop <image-id>   // stop image
docker rmi <image-id>    // delete image

iv. Delete images

Delete all images at once

docker image prune

Method 2: (Docker Extension):

In the docker section, we right-click on the image to delete. Click Remove

Video:

Closing Thoughts:

Deleting unused containers and images is a good way to keep our docker space clean. Try it out, team. Do comment or tweet to me if you face some issue.

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