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Project Notes

Docker Shell

How to get a bash shell in a docker instance

Notes

Assuming we’re running a *nix OS in docker.. how to get a shell inside the container?

I’m using the official nginx image for testing…

Shell in a New Container

If there are no instances of the image running, start a new one and execute directly to shell:

$ docker run --rm -it --entrypoint bash nginx
root@32cf098b15ab:/# uname -a
Linux 32cf098b15ab 4.19.76-linuxkit #1 SMP Tue May 26 11:42:35 UTC 2020 x86_64 GNU/Linux
exit

Shell in an Existing Container

Start a container:

$ docker run --name testing -d nginx
ac7d587931708be4092ed876c7a0804d141b2d6d2db0de08a40cded0038ae5e8

Then exec the shell addressing the instance by name:

$ docker exec -it testing /bin/bash
root@ac7d58793170:/# uname -a
Linux ac7d58793170 4.19.76-linuxkit #1 SMP Tue May 26 11:42:35 UTC 2020 x86_64 GNU/Linux
root@ac7d58793170:/# echo $NGINX_VERSION
1.23.0

If bash is on the PATH inside the container:

$ docker exec -it testing bash
root@ac7d58793170:/# uname -a
Linux ac7d58793170 4.19.76-linuxkit #1 SMP Tue May 26 11:42:35 UTC 2020 x86_64 GNU/Linux
root@ac7d58793170:/# echo $NGINX_VERSION
1.23.0

Shutdown the remove the instance:

$ docker stop testing
testing
$ docker rm testing
testing

Credits and References

About LCK#227 docker
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This page is a web-friendly rendering of my project notes shared in the LittleCodingKata GitHub repository.

LittleCodingKata is my collection of programming exercises, research and code toys broadly spanning things that relate to programming and software development (languages, frameworks and tools).

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