Related

Run Container

docker

Create and start a new Docker container from an image, with options for interactive mode, port mapping, volume mounting, and environment configuration.

Execute Command

docker

Run a command in a running container.

View Logs

docker

Fetch logs from a container’s stdout and stderr.

docker/inspect

Inspect Container

Return low-level JSON details of Docker objects (containers, images, networks, volumes).

container
debugging

Command

docker inspect

Explanation

docker inspect outputs structured JSON with configuration, runtime, and network details. The --format flag uses Go templates for extracting specific values like IP addresses or mounts.

Common Use Cases

  • •Debug networking or volume configurations
  • •Inspect container state and environment
  • •Extract data for scripts or automation

Best Practices

  • ✓Use --format for clean data extraction
  • ✓Pipe output to jq for readable JSON

Common Mistakes to Avoid

  • ⚠Not quoting format strings properly when using --format

Troubleshooting

Problem: No output for container name

Solution: Verify correct name or ID using docker ps -a.

Examples

Show detailed container info

docker inspect my_container

Extract specific property

docker inspect --format='{{.NetworkSettings.IPAddress}}' my_container

More

Start Container

docker

Start one or more stopped containers.

Stop Container

docker

Stop one or more running containers gracefully.

Restart Container

docker

Restart one or more containers.