I spent last weekend diving deep into Docker and came out the other side with a solid understanding of its fundamentals. To cement what I learned, I created this command cheat sheet. It's aimed at helping you (and future me!) work confidently with Docker day-to-day.

🐳 Checking Docker Version

🔍 Inspecting Containers

List running containers:

List all containers (running + stopped):

• a or -all: Show all containers, not just running ones.

🗑️ Removing Containers and Images

Remove a container:

List all images:

Remove an image:

• rmi: Remove one or more images by name or ID.

🏗️ Creating and Running Containers

Run a container interactively:

• i: Keep STDIN open.

• t: Allocate a pseudo-TTY (interactive shell).

Run in background (detached mode):

• d: Detached mode. Runs in background.

Run with a specific name:

• -name: Assign a custom name to the container.

📥 Pulling Docker Images

▶️ Start and Stop Containers

Start an existing container:

Stop or kill a container:

• stop: Graceful shutdown.

• kill: Immediate termination.

🛠️ Running Commands in Containers

Execute a one-off command:

Start an interactive shell:

Exit container but keep it running:

🧱 Building Images

• t: Tags the image with a name.

• <path>: Typically . to refer to the current directory.

🌐 Port Mapping

• p: Maps ports from container to host.

• Example:

Update port mapping for an existing container:

🌱 Environment Variables

📦 Docker Volumes

Create a volume:

List all volumes:

Mount a volume to a container:

• v: Mounts a volume.

• /data/db: Where MongoDB stores its data internally.

🔗 Docker Networks

Create a custom network:

List networks:

Types of Docker networks:

• bridge: Default. Isolated internal network on the host.

• host: Shares host's networking directly.

Run a container on a specific network:

🚀 Push Custom Images to Docker Hub

Step-by-step:

1. Create a repo on hub.docker.com (e.g., myusername/myimage)

2. Tag the image locally:

1. Log in:

1. Push:

🧩 Docker Compose

Example docker-compose.yaml

Run the compose setup:

Tear down everything: