When a container exits, docker ps -a
shows its exit code (scroll
$ docker run ubuntu bash -c "exit 1"
CONTAINER ID IMAGE COMMAND CREATED STATUS PORTS NAMES
c2c769c4b9ef ubuntu "bash -c 'exit 1'" 6 seconds ago Exited (1) 3 seconds ago happy_fermat
How do I get the numeric exit code programmatically, without error-prone grep
-ing and cut
-ing?
Use docker inspect
with templates:
$ docker inspect c2c769c4b9ef --format='{{.State.ExitCode}}'
1
You can use echo
:
$ docker run debian bash -c "exit 1"
$ echo $?
1
$ docker run debian bash -c "exit 0"
$ echo $?
0
The exit status of docker run
is the exit status of the contained command, except if there is a problem with Docker itself (in which case the status is 125) or the contained command could not be invoked (in which case the status is 126) or could not be invoked (in which case the status is 127).
Therefore when you execute docker run
as a child process, you can retrieve the exit status as you would for any other child process:
- In a C or C++ program, or other programming language giving access to the POSIX API, using
waitpid()
.
- In a POSIX like shell (which in practice means most Unix shells, including
bash
), as the content of the special $?
variable immediately after completion of a docker run
.
- In Java, the value of
Process.exitValue()
for the Process
you used to do docker run
.
If you are using a Docker API, it should provide access to the exit status.
- In Java using the Spotify Docker client, the value of
ContainerExit.statusCode()
of the ContainerExit
object returned by docker.waitContainer()
.