How do I get into a Docker container's shell?

I'm getting started working with Docker. I'm using the WordPress base image and docker-compose.

I'm trying to ssh into one of the containers to inspect the files/directories that were created during the initial build. I tried to run docker-compose run containername ls -la, but that didn't do anything. Even if it did, I'd rather have a console where I can traverse the directory structure, rather than run a single command. What is the right way to do this with Docker?

docker attach will let you connect to your Docker container, but this isn't really the same thing as ssh. If your container is running a webserver, for example, docker attach will probably connect you to the stdout of the web server process. It won't necessarily give you a shell.

The docker exec command is probably what you are looking for; this will let you run arbitrary commands inside an existing container. For example:

docker exec -it <mycontainer> bash

Of course, whatever command you are running must exist in the container filesystem.

In the above command <mycontainer> is the name or ID of the target container. It doesn't matter whether or not you're using docker compose; just run docker ps and use either the ID (a hexadecimal string displayed in the first column) or the name (displayed in the final column). E.g., given:

$ docker ps
d2d4a89aaee9        larsks/mini-httpd   "mini_httpd -d /cont   7 days ago          Up 7 days                               web                 

I can run:

$ docker exec -it web ip addr
1: lo: <LOOPBACK,UP,LOWER_UP> mtu 65536 qdisc noqueue state UNKNOWN 
    link/loopback 00:00:00:00:00:00 brd 00:00:00:00:00:00
    inet 127.0.0.1/8 scope host lo
       valid_lft forever preferred_lft forever
    inet6 ::1/128 scope host 
       valid_lft forever preferred_lft forever
18: eth0: <BROADCAST,UP,LOWER_UP> mtu 1500 qdisc noqueue state UP 
    link/ether 02:42:ac:11:00:03 brd ff:ff:ff:ff:ff:ff
    inet 172.17.0.3/16 scope global eth0
       valid_lft forever preferred_lft forever
    inet6 fe80::42:acff:fe11:3/64 scope link 
       valid_lft forever preferred_lft forever

I could accomplish the same thing by running:

$ docker exec -it d2d4a89aaee9 ip addr

Similarly, I could start a shell in the container;

$ docker exec -it web sh
/ # echo This is inside the container.
This is inside the container.
/ # exit
$

To bash into a running container, type this:

docker exec -t -i container_name /bin/bash

or

docker exec -ti container_name /bin/bash

or

docker exec -ti container_name sh

Historical note: At the time I wrote this answer, the title of the question was: "How to ssh into a docker container?"

As other answers have demonstrated, it is common to execute and interact with preinstalled commands (including shells) in a locally-accessible running container using docker exec, rather than SSH:

docker exec -it (container) (command)

Note: The below answer is based on Ubuntu (of 2016). Some translation of the installation process will be required for non-Debian containers.

Let's say, for reasons that are your own, you really do want to use SSH. It takes a few steps, but it can be done. Here are the commands that you would run inside the container to set it up...

apt-get update
apt-get install openssh-server

mkdir /var/run/sshd
chmod 0755 /var/run/sshd
/usr/sbin/sshd

useradd --create-home --shell /bin/bash --groups sudo username ## includes 'sudo'
passwd username ## Enter a password

apt-get install x11-apps ## X11 demo applications (optional)
ifconfig | awk '/inet addr/{print substr($2,6)}' ## Display IP address (optional)

Now you can even run graphical applications (if they are installed in the container) using X11 forwarding to the SSH client:

ssh -X username@IPADDRESS
xeyes ## run an X11 demo app in the client

Here are some related resources:

• openssh-server doesn't start in Docker container
• How to get bash or ssh into a running container in background mode?
• Can you run GUI applications in a Linux Docker container?
• Other useful approaches for graphical access found with search: Docker X11
• If you run SSHD in your Docker containers, you're doing it wrong!

If you're here looking for a Docker Compose-specific answer like I was, it provides an easy way in without having to look up the generated container ID.

docker-compose exec takes the name of the service as per your docker-compose.yml file.

So to get a Bash shell for your 'web' service, you can do:

$ docker-compose exec web bash

If the container has already exited (maybe due to some error), you can do

$ docker run --rm -it --entrypoint /bin/ash image_name

or

$ docker run --rm -it --entrypoint /bin/sh image_name

or

$ docker run --rm -it --entrypoint /bin/bash image_name

to create a new container and get a shell into it. Since you specified --rm, the container would be deleted when you exit the shell.