List of useful commands for Docker first timers

I found those commands useful during my first weeks using Docker. Hopefully, you will find it useful as well.

Docker and Git have in common one cool feature: you can use only part of a container hash code. For example instead of 5e7fc43 you can use just 5e7

Check all running containers

docker ps -a

Check created networks

docker network ps

Show all images

docker images

Login into a container as a root user

docker exec -u 0 -it CONTAINER_ID /bin/bash

Execute a command on a container without logging in

docker exec -it CONTAINER_ID cat /etc/krb5.conf  

Copy a file to/from a container

The code below will copy hosts file from a container into a current directory on your local machine

docker cp CONTAINER_ID:/etc/hosts hosts

Use docker-compose for setting up environments with two or more intercommunicating containers

It does not only have better human-readable syntax but also adding a default network for those containers