How to take actions on multiple docker containers at once

∟⊔⊤∦∣≶@lemmy.nz to Linux@lemmy.ml – 25 points –

Again, please tell me if there is a better way to do this.

While testing docker, frequently I need to start/stop/rm containers. I got real sick of having to ls them and copy paste the container ID.

Using this alias, I just have to remember a single part of the name of the container, and I will get the container IDs that can then be included as part of another command:

$ alias dcl='_dcl(){ docker container ls -aq -f name="$1";}; _dcl'

$ dcl snikket
b3fcbc808cc9
1947885fbb24
054d67d2e8b9
d8fe9df5f61f

So now that I'm getting a list of IDs, I can easily, for example, pause all of them:

$ docker container pause $( dcl snikket )
Error response from daemon: container  is not running
Error response from daemon: container  is not running
Error response from daemon: container  is not running
Error response from daemon: container  is not running

The containers weren't actually running, but this shows the alias working.

dcl obviously stands for 'docker container ls'

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This works but I'd just create a function and use that instead of creating an alias that creates a function and then calls itself.

if your containers are created with a docker compose file you can use docker-compose to target them all

Is there a way to do this without cd-ing to the directory with the compose file first?

You can use -f /path/to/compose.yaml to call it from wherever you like.