How to continue a Docker container which has exited

Consider:

docker run -it centos /bin/bash

I pressed Ctrl+D to exit it.

I want to continue to run this container, but I found I can't.

The only method is

docker commit `docker ps -q -l` my_image
docker run -it my_image /bin/bash

Am I right? Is there a better method? (I'm using docker 0.8.0.)

Solution 1:

You can restart an existing container after it exited and your changes are still there.

docker start  `docker ps -q -l` # restart it in the background
docker attach `docker ps -q -l` # reattach the terminal & stdin

Solution 2:

docker start -a -i `docker ps -q -l`

Explanation:

docker start start a container (requires name or ID)
-a attach to container
-i interactive mode
docker ps List containers
-q list only container IDs
-l list only last created container

Solution 3:

Use:

docker start $(docker ps -a -q --filter "status=exited")

This will start all containers which are in the exited state.

docker exec -it <container-id> /bin/bash

This will connect to the particular container.

Solution 4:

If you want to do it in multiple, easy-to-remember commands:

1. list stopped containers:

docker ps -a

2. copy the name or the container id of the container you want to attach to, and start the container with:

docker start -i <name/id>

The -i flag tells docker to attach to the container's stdin.

If the container wasn't started with an interactive shell to connect to, you need to do this to run a shell:

docker start <name/id>
docker exec -it <name/id> /bin/sh

The /bin/sh is the shell usually available with alpine-based images.