This post is simply here to document how to remove untagged and exited images and containers.
##Exited Images## You can find previously exited images by using filters:
docker ps -f "status=exited"This will return the full text for each exited container:
Spencers-MacBook-Pro:~ spencer$ docker ps -f "status=exited"
CONTAINER ID IMAGE COMMAND CREATED STATUS PORTS NAMES
72b10aebd2b0 rsmitty/ostack "/bin/sh -c /bin/bas 9 hours ago Exited (126) 9 hours ago distracted_wilson
aa6c9cfc662f rsmitty/ostack "/bin/sh -c /bin/bas 9 hours ago Exited (0) 9 hours ago sick_einstein
1bfce6a324b5 ubuntu:14.04 "/bin/bash" 9 hours ago jovial_einsteinTo remove all of them, you can nest a command similar to the one above inside the docker rm command:
docker rm $(docker ps -qf "status=exited")Docker responds with a list of IDs that it deleted:
Spencers-MacBook-Pro:~ spencer$ docker rm $(docker ps -qf "status=exited")
72b10aebd2b0
aa6c9cfc662f
1bfce6a324b5
f7fd1c00837c##Untagged Images## If you wish to clean up untagged instances you can find them with another filter command, similar to the one above:
docker images -f "dangling=true"This will return a formatted list of the untagged images:
Spencers-MacBook-Pro:~ spencer$ docker images -f "dangling=true"
REPOSITORY TAG IMAGE ID CREATED VIRTUAL SIZE
<none> <none> bfa68ad8ff4c 23 hours ago 457.1 MB
<none> <none> 0043ceae2104 23 hours ago 457.1 MB
<none> <none> edff0ab07895 23 hours ago 421.3 MB
<none> <none> 6ae539b22ab9 23 hours ago 421 MBAnd again, nesting a variation of that command to actually do the cleanup:
docker rmi $(docker images -qf "dangling=true")Now something interesting happens!
Spencers-MacBook-Pro:~ spencer$ docker rmi $(docker images -qf "dangling=true")
Error response from daemon: Conflict, cannot delete bfa68ad8ff4c because the running container 7e5c96166fcb is using it, stop it and use -f to force
Deleted: edff0ab0789548cf33db3589eae5cc93589e7aea379bc3383f58c00b71ebb8cb
Deleted: e619828bd6f049d81a1920b96634534044ab0bf8f1dd4e40d9daf82d9a5c80b6
Deleted: ac0a2e7c0897058649e9e31cd4a319ee08158646990a607a54a0492f27e6e275
Error: failed to remove images: [bfa68ad8ff4c]If the images are in use by some container, you must first stop the container. You’ll have to resolve this in order to remove this image. This is a good thing though, it can keep you from blowing yourself up :)