List Docker containers

List running containers with:

docker ps

Include stopped containers with docker ps --all. Useful columns include the name, status, ports, and image. For a compact custom view:

docker ps -a --format 'table {{.Names}}\t{{.Status}}\t{{.Image}}'

A container ID is enough for most commands, but a stable name is easier to read. Filter rather than parsing table output in scripts:

docker ps -q --filter 'status=running'

Compose services are best viewed with docker compose ps from the project directory. If the list is unexpectedly empty, check docker context show; the CLI may be connected to a different engine. docker ps lists containers, not images or volumes.

Sources

• docker ps CLI reference

• Docker documentation