docker container prune

Estimated reading time: 5 minutes

Description

Remove all stopped containers

API 1.25+  The client and daemon API must both be at least 1.25 to use this command. Use the docker version command on the client to check your client and daemon API versions.

Usage

docker container prune [OPTIONS]

Options

Name, shorthand Default Description
--filter Provide filter values (e.g. ‘until=')
--force , -f Do not prompt for confirmation

Parent command

Command Description
docker container Manage containers
Command Description
docker container attach Attach local standard input, output, and error streams to a running container
docker container commit Create a new image from a container’s changes
docker container cp Copy files/folders between a container and the local filesystem
docker container create Create a new container
docker container diff Inspect changes to files or directories on a container’s filesystem
docker container exec Run a command in a running container
docker container export Export a container’s filesystem as a tar archive
docker container inspect Display detailed information on one or more containers
docker container kill Kill one or more running containers
docker container logs Fetch the logs of a container
docker container ls List containers
docker container pause Pause all processes within one or more containers
docker container port List port mappings or a specific mapping for the container
docker container prune Remove all stopped containers
docker container rename Rename a container
docker container restart Restart one or more containers
docker container rm Remove one or more containers
docker container run Run a command in a new container
docker container start Start one or more stopped containers
docker container stats Display a live stream of container(s) resource usage statistics
docker container stop Stop one or more running containers
docker container top Display the running processes of a container
docker container unpause Unpause all processes within one or more containers
docker container update Update configuration of one or more containers
docker container wait Block until one or more containers stop, then print their exit codes

Extended description

Removes all stopped containers.

Examples

Prune containers

$ docker container prune
WARNING! This will remove all stopped containers.
Are you sure you want to continue? [y/N] y
Deleted Containers:
4a7f7eebae0f63178aff7eb0aa39cd3f0627a203ab2df258c1a00b456cf20063
f98f9c2aa1eaf727e4ec9c0283bc7d4aa4762fbdba7f26191f26c97f64090360

Total reclaimed space: 212 B

Filtering

The filtering flag (-f or --filter) format is of “key=value”. If there is more than one filter, then pass multiple flags (e.g., --filter "foo=bar" --filter "bif=baz")

The currently supported filters are:

  • until (<timestamp>) - only remove containers created before given timestamp
  • label (label=<key>, label=<key>=<value>, label!=<key>, or label!=<key>=<value>) - only remove containers with (or without, in case label!=... is used) the specified labels.

The until filter can be Unix timestamps, date formatted timestamps, or Go duration strings (e.g. 10m, 1h30m) computed relative to the daemon machine’s time. Supported formats for date formatted time stamps include RFC3339Nano, RFC3339, 2006-01-02T15:04:05, 2006-01-02T15:04:05.999999999, 2006-01-02Z07:00, and 2006-01-02. The local timezone on the daemon will be used if you do not provide either a Z or a +-00:00 timezone offset at the end of the timestamp. When providing Unix timestamps enter seconds[.nanoseconds], where seconds is the number of seconds that have elapsed since January 1, 1970 (midnight UTC/GMT), not counting leap seconds (aka Unix epoch or Unix time), and the optional .nanoseconds field is a fraction of a second no more than nine digits long.

The label filter accepts two formats. One is the label=... (label=<key> or label=<key>=<value>), which removes containers with the specified labels. The other format is the label!=... (label!=<key> or label!=<key>=<value>), which removes containers without the specified labels.

The following removes containers created more than 5 minutes ago:

$ docker ps -a --format 'table {{.ID}}\t{{.Image}}\t{{.Command}}\t{{.CreatedAt}}\t{{.Status}}'

CONTAINER ID        IMAGE               COMMAND             CREATED AT                      STATUS
61b9efa71024        busybox             "sh"                2017-01-04 13:23:33 -0800 PST   Exited (0) 41 seconds ago
53a9bc23a516        busybox             "sh"                2017-01-04 13:11:59 -0800 PST   Exited (0) 12 minutes ago

$ docker container prune --force --filter "until=5m"

Deleted Containers:
53a9bc23a5168b6caa2bfbefddf1b30f93c7ad57f3dec271fd32707497cb9369

Total reclaimed space: 25 B

$ docker ps -a --format 'table {{.ID}}\t{{.Image}}\t{{.Command}}\t{{.CreatedAt}}\t{{.Status}}'

CONTAINER ID        IMAGE               COMMAND             CREATED AT                      STATUS
61b9efa71024        busybox             "sh"                2017-01-04 13:23:33 -0800 PST   Exited (0) 44 seconds ago

The following removes containers created before 2017-01-04T13:10:00:

$ docker ps -a --format 'table {{.ID}}\t{{.Image}}\t{{.Command}}\t{{.CreatedAt}}\t{{.Status}}'

CONTAINER ID        IMAGE               COMMAND             CREATED AT                      STATUS
53a9bc23a516        busybox             "sh"                2017-01-04 13:11:59 -0800 PST   Exited (0) 7 minutes ago
4a75091a6d61        busybox             "sh"                2017-01-04 13:09:53 -0800 PST   Exited (0) 9 minutes ago

$ docker container prune --force --filter "until=2017-01-04T13:10:00"

Deleted Containers:
4a75091a6d618526fcd8b33ccd6e5928ca2a64415466f768a6180004b0c72c6c

Total reclaimed space: 27 B

$ docker ps -a --format 'table {{.ID}}\t{{.Image}}\t{{.Command}}\t{{.CreatedAt}}\t{{.Status}}'

CONTAINER ID        IMAGE               COMMAND             CREATED AT                      STATUS
53a9bc23a516        busybox             "sh"                2017-01-04 13:11:59 -0800 PST   Exited (0) 9 minutes ago