How do I delete multiple images in docker?

Question

I have created a lot of images but I don't know how to delete them efficiently.

Does anyone know good command to remove the images smartly?

Thank you very much!

This question already had comprehensive answers [here](https://stackoverflow.com/a/32723127/4676641) and [here](https://stackoverflow.com/a/44785784/4676641) some of which were re-iterated below. — cam, Feb 25 '21 at 03:39

score 10 · Accepted Answer · edited Jul 25 '21 at 16:54

10

you can try docker rmi -f $(docker images -q)

Explanation:

docker images -q will list all the image id's. Then you pass all the image id's to docker rmi -f

edited Jul 25 '21 at 16:54

Community

answered Feb 25 '21 at 02:58

Peter Lee

1

Thank you! Your answer is what I want! I only want to remove the images but keep my container~ – Ching-Hang Hsu Feb 25 '21 at 03:08
careful! you need to add `` wrap docker images -q like this docker rmi -f `docker images -q` – Peter Lee Feb 25 '21 at 03:09
On a Mac you get: ❯ unknown shorthand flag: 'q' in -q See 'docker rmi --help'. – Peter Rosemann Jun 05 '21 at 08:53

score 6 · Answer 2 · answered Feb 25 '21 at 02:56

6

The following should delete all your unused images and stopped containers:

$ docker system prune -a

answered Feb 25 '21 at 02:56

SpaceKatt

Sahadat Hossain · Answer 3 · 2021-02-25T03:41:34.560

At first, you need to delete/stop the running container that is using your image(which one you want to remove).

docker ps -a: To see all the running containers in your machine.
docker stop <container_id>: To stop a running container.
docker rm <container_id>: To remove/delete a docker container(only if it stopped).
docker image ls: To see the list of all the available images with their tag, image id, creation time and size.
docker rmi <image_id>: To delete a specific image.
delete rmi -f <image_id>: To delete a docker image forcefully
docker rm -f (docker ps -a | awk '{print$1}'): To delete all the docker container available in your machine
docker image rm <image_name>: To delete a specific image

To remove the image, you have to remove/stop all the containers which are using it.

docker system prune -a: To clean the docker environment, removing all the containers and images.

N.B: For docker common commands you can see: docker essential commands

3 Answers3