Docker: How to delete all local Docker images

Question

I recently started using Docker and never realized that I should use docker-compose down instead of ctrl-c or docker-compose stop to get rid of my experiments. I now have a large number of unneeded docker images locally.

Is there a flag I can run to delete all the local docker images & containers?

Something like docker rmi --all --force --all flag does not exist but I am looking for something with similar idea.

Related: [How to remove old and unused Docker images](https://stackoverflow.com/q/32723111/55075). — kenorb, Apr 13 '18 at 00:19
`docker images purge` --> will remove all your docker images — muthukumar selvaraj, Oct 23 '18 at 18:55
With xargs: `docker image ls -q | xargs -I {} docker image rm -f {}` — iamarkadyt, Dec 30 '19 at 23:57
@muthukumarhelius I think you mean `docker image prune` (image is singular and it's prune instead of purge). — Andrés Mejía, May 25 '20 at 21:06

score 1495 · Accepted Answer · edited Feb 14 '22 at 15:05

1495

For Unix

To delete all containers including its volumes use,

docker rm -vf $(docker ps -aq)

To delete all the images,

docker rmi -f $(docker images -aq)

Remember, you should remove all the containers before removing all the images from which those containers were created.

For Windows (power shell, not cmd)

In case you are working on Windows (Powershell),

$images = docker images -a -q
foreach ($image in $images) { docker image rm $image -f }

Based on the comment from CodeSix, one liner for Windows Powershell,

docker images -a -q | % { docker image rm $_ -f }

For Windows using command line,

for /F %i in ('docker images -a -q') do docker rmi -f %i

edited Feb 14 '22 at 15:05

Gulzar

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answered Jun 27 '17 at 16:48

techtabu

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`unknown shorthand flag: 'a' in -a` when running `docker rmi -f $(docker images -a -q)` – Ashutosh Chamoli Feb 05 '19 at 10:06
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@Ashutosh Chamoli: Doesn't work in CMD, works in PowerShell. – Jack Feb 26 '19 at 10:21
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One-line variant for powershell: `docker images -a -q | % { docker image rm $_ -f }` – codestix Dec 17 '19 at 19:14
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I must have come here 100s of times. Thanks for writing this answer! – Ajay Maity Jan 13 '20 at 11:21
「docker rmi -f $(docker images -a -q) 」is real badass – Sinux Mar 16 '20 at 08:33
you might wanna add the powershell comment posted in your answer, because i tried this several times in CMD until I read this commentby @Jack – Mohammed Dawood Ansari Jul 28 '20 at 07:07
Thanks! It helped me. Please, remove the last dash in the PowerShell command. Note that is not part of the command in @CodeStix comment. The container one liner is `docker ps -a -q | % { docker rm -vf $_ }` – Titan Aug 02 '20 at 11:42
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@Titan, thank you. Edited. I don't have way to test in windows, should have paid more attention to comment. – techtabu Aug 02 '20 at 23:08
Great @techtabu. BTW I'm using PowerShell Core on Manjaro. – Titan Aug 05 '20 at 09:14
Just optimization: in Windows we can combine it in PowerShell like: "docker image rm $(docker images -a -q)" – Alex Vovchuk Aug 13 '20 at 13:49
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Great answer. Thank you – sh1hab Oct 07 '20 at 18:22
I kept getting `Got permission denied while trying to connect to the Docker daemon socket` so I first fixed this by using `sudo chmod 666 /var/run/docker.sock` then those commands were working perfectly. – DataPlug Feb 24 '22 at 23:42
I have faced an issue with AWS EC2 Instance. That instance default user is ```ubuntu```. So when I run the code that gives permission error. Then I used ```sudo docker rm -vf $(sudo docker ps -aq)``` and ```sudo docker rmi -f $(sudo docker images -aq)``` – Md Jewele Islam Mar 08 '22 at 22:29

Robert · Answer 2 · 2019-01-31T19:25:43.287

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Use this to delete everything:

docker system prune -a --volumes

Remove all unused containers, volumes, networks and images

WARNING! This will remove:
    - all stopped containers
    - all networks not used by at least one container
    - all volumes not used by at least one container
    - all images without at least one container associated to them
    - all build cache

https://docs.docker.com/engine/reference/commandline/system_prune/#extended-description

edited Jan 31 '19 at 19:25

answered Jun 27 '17 at 23:52

Robert

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Doesn't actually reclaim all the disk space, however. – lucian303 Mar 01 '19 at 00:57
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@lucian303 this approach does reclaim disk space. Maybe you are facing a particular issue. – Robert Nov 07 '19 at 16:48
I only seem to get the desired result when I do this *and* the steps in @techtabu 's answer – francojposa Dec 30 '19 at 17:58
unknown flag: --volumes – aswzen Jul 19 '20 at 05:05
@lucian303 in my case the space was reclaimed only after restarting the docker – dav Mar 25 '21 at 13:42
Using Windows and Docker Desktop, disk space was not reclaimed. The other solutions mentioned in the comments did not work for me. I posted an answer that helped me in reclaiming disk space. – Guido Jul 01 '21 at 07:34
@lucian303 It *does* reclaim disk space. In my case: `Total reclaimed space: 7.575GB`. And `docker ps -a` and `docker images` empty after this. – questionto42standswithUkraine Dec 22 '21 at 10:35

score 45 · Answer 3 · answered Jul 13 '20 at 06:40

45

Here is short and quick solution I used

Docker provides a single command that will clean up any resources — images, containers, volumes, and networks — that are dangling (not associated with a container):

docker system prune

To additionally remove any stopped containers and all unused images (not just dangling images), add the -a flag to the command:

docker system prune -a

For more details visit link

answered Jul 13 '20 at 06:40

Suhas_Pote

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Would be nice if we could avoid repeated answers. – sayil aguirre Mar 06 '21 at 18:00
As mentioned in the other answer, --volumes is required to also include volumes in the pruning process. – Jason Tarr May 25 '22 at 13:23

score 34 · Answer 4 · answered Dec 09 '17 at 03:56

docker image prune -a

Remove all unused images, not just dangling ones. Add -f option to force.

Local docker version: 17.09.0-ce, Git commit: afdb6d4, OS/Arch: darwin/amd64

$ docker image prune -h
Flag shorthand -h has been deprecated, please use --help

Usage:  docker image prune [OPTIONS]

Remove unused images

Options:
  -a, --all             Remove all unused images, not just dangling ones
      --filter filter   Provide filter values (e.g. 'until=<timestamp>')
  -f, --force           Do not prompt for confirmation
      --help            Print usage

score 16 · Answer 5 · answered Nov 19 '18 at 06:45

16

Easy and handy commands

To delete all images

docker rmi $(docker images -a)

To delete containers which are in exited state

docker rm $(docker ps -a -f status=exited -q)

To delete containers which are in created state

docker rm $(docker ps -a -f status=created -q)

NOTE: Remove all the containers then remove the images

answered Nov 19 '18 at 06:45

Deep Nirmal

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to delete all images, should be - "docker rmi $(docker images -a -q)". -q returns just the image ids – mirageglobe Jul 16 '19 at 16:43
that means it has deleted those images. Recheck once again – Deep Nirmal Jul 16 '19 at 18:48

VasiliNovikov · Answer 6 · 2021-07-23T18:45:05.547

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If you need to delete without invoking docker:

rm -rf /var/lib/docker

This directly removes all docker images/containers/volumes from the filesystem.

edited Jul 23 '21 at 18:45

answered Jul 19 '19 at 08:33

VasiliNovikov

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and also docker infrastructure files. I would NOT do that. – Tuncay Göncüoğlu Sep 25 '20 at 14:12
@TuncayGöncüoğlu what do you mean by "docker infrastructure files" ? The settings in `/etc/docker` are not affected – VasiliNovikov Sep 25 '20 at 18:30
`ERROR: failed to update bridge store for object type *bridge.networkConfiguration: open /var/lib/docker/network/files/local-kv.db: no such file or directory` – chen Sep 08 '21 at 07:31
[@ravi](https://stackoverflow.com/users/153271/ravi) docker may need to be stopped first, e.g. `systemctl stop docker` – VasiliNovikov Sep 08 '21 at 16:06

score 6 · Answer 7 · edited Oct 10 '21 at 08:41

6

For Linux Ubuntu user, below worked for me. Word of Caution- It will remove all by the way.

For removing containers along with volumes associated with it, use below:

sudo docker rm -vf $(sudo docker ps -a -q)

For Removing images use below:

sudo docker rmi -f $(sudo docker images -a -q)

edited Oct 10 '21 at 08:41

hassan

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answered Oct 09 '21 at 20:01

Sajin Pattath

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score 5 · Answer 8 · answered Oct 06 '21 at 13:34

5

List images

docker image ls

Remove unused images

docker image prune --all

To additionally remove any stopped containers and all unused images

docker system prune -a

know more

answered Oct 06 '21 at 13:34

MD SHAYON

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score 4 · Answer 9 · answered Aug 13 '18 at 07:43

4

To delete all images:

docker rmi -f $(docker images -a | awk {'print $3'})

Explanation:

docker images -a | awk {'print $3'}

This command will return all image id's and then used to delete image using its id.

answered Aug 13 '18 at 07:43

PalFS

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`-q` also only prints the ids – OneCricketeer Oct 08 '21 at 14:13

score 4 · Answer 10 · answered Jul 01 '21 at 07:30

There is a bug in Windows where disk space is not reclaimed after removing the images. Rebooting Docker / Windows did not work.

In case you are using Docker Desktop, the following worked for me. Go to Troubleshoot -> Clean / purge data. This can save you a lot of disk space, maybe more than you wanted.

Please note: this removes everything, so think twice before doing this!

score 3 · Answer 11 · answered Jul 16 '19 at 16:50

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To delete all images :

docker rmi $(docker images -a -q)

where -a is all, and -q is return only image ids

To remove unused images, and containers :

docker system prune

beware as if you are using docker swarm, and your local machine is joining remote swarm (as manager/worker), your local will be the deployed repo. executing this thus removes the deployed images.

answered Jul 16 '19 at 16:50

mirageglobe

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That command would remove volume(s) as well that you may still be using. – John Greene Oct 04 '20 at 12:49
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unknown shorthand flag: 'a' in -a See 'docker rmi --help'. – Roee Jul 06 '21 at 13:13

score 3 · Answer 12 · edited Dec 12 '19 at 12:53

3

docker rmi $(docker images -q) --force

edited Dec 12 '19 at 12:53

sdgfsdh

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answered Aug 02 '19 at 18:28

simencore

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You should add some explanation when leaving an answer on a post, so that others finding it later can understand it. – Morphyish Aug 02 '19 at 18:48

score 2 · Answer 13 · answered May 22 '19 at 17:08

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You can try like this:

docker system prune

answered May 22 '19 at 17:08

Bablu Ahmed

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In my case this would remove a volume that I still use. Don't use this if you don't know what it does – Zach Smith Oct 30 '19 at 12:02
'awk' is not recognized as an internal or external command, operable program or batch file. – Roee Jul 06 '21 at 13:12

score 2 · Answer 14 · edited Oct 08 '21 at 14:14

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Another way with xargs (Unix only)

docker image ls -q | xargs -I {} docker image rm -f {}

edited Oct 08 '21 at 14:14

OneCricketeer

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answered Dec 30 '19 at 01:35

iamarkadyt

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'xargs' is not recognized as an internal or external command, operable program or batch file. – Roee Jul 06 '21 at 13:13

score 2 · Answer 15 · edited Dec 16 '20 at 12:55

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sudo docker images / docker images // list of images with id
sudo docker rm image <image_id> / docker rm image <image_id>

edited Dec 16 '20 at 12:55

Tomer Shetah

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answered Dec 16 '20 at 12:30

ani shaw

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score 2 · Answer 16 · answered Oct 13 '21 at 11:21

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docker image rm -f $(docker image ls -a -q)

answered Oct 13 '21 at 11:21

De Bonheur

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score 1 · Answer 17 · answered Dec 18 '19 at 12:00

Adding to techtabu's accepted answer, If you're using docker on windows, you can use the following command

for /F "delims=" %A in ('docker ps -a -q') do docker rm %A

here, the command docker ps -a -q lists all the images and this list is passed to docker rm one by one

see this for more details on how this type of command format works in windows cmd.

Debasis Das · Answer 18 · 2020-02-20T09:44:43.187

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To delete all Docker local Docker images follow 2 steps ::

step 1 : docker images ( list all docker images with ids )

     example :
     REPOSITORY    TAG    IMAGE ID            CREATED             SIZE
     pradip564/my  latest 31e522c6cfe4        3 months ago        915MB

step 2 : docker image rm 31e522c6cfe4 ( IMAGE ID)

      OUTPUT : image deleted

edited Feb 20 '20 at 09:44

answered Feb 20 '20 at 09:15

Debasis Das

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score 0 · Answer 19 · answered Oct 26 '20 at 18:36

Here is the command I used and put it in a batch file to remove everything:

echo "Removing containers :" && if [ -n "$(docker container ls -aq)" ]; then docker container stop $(docker container ls -aq); docker container rm $(docker container ls -aq); fi; echo "Removing images :" && if [ -n "$(docker images -aq)" ]; then docker rmi -f $(docker images -aq); fi; echo "Removing volumes :" && if [ -n "$(docker volume ls -q)" ]; then docker volume rm $(docker volume ls -q); fi; echo "Removing networks :" && if [ -n "$(docker network ls | awk '{print $1" "$2}' | grep -v 'ID|bridge|host|none' | awk '{print $1}')" ]; then docker network rm $(docker network ls | awk '{print $1" "$2}' | grep -v 'ID|bridge|host|none' | awk '{print $1}'); fi;

That looks like a nice command but would be much easier as a human to assimilate in a shell script form and then could be versioned as well :) — god_is_love, Nov 18 '21 at 05:35

Venryx · Answer 20 · 2021-08-12T10:06:11.920

The other answers don't seem to provide an easy way to delete just the containers with "auto-generated" names. This is my most frequent intent, so I wrote a Powershell script for it:

$containers = (docker container list -a).Split("`n") | % { [regex]::split($_, "\s+") | Select -Last 1 }
$containersToRemove = $containers | Where { ([regex]"^[a-z]+_[a-z]+$").IsMatch($_) }

# it's recommended to delete in batches, as too many at once can cause issues
$containersToRemove = $containersToRemove | Select-Object -First 30

foreach ($container in $containersToRemove) {
    # sync/wait-based version (slow)
    # docker container rm $container

    # async/background-process version (fast)
    Start-Process -FilePath docker -ArgumentList "container rm $container" -NoNewWindow
}

Take caution of course, as this script is just using a regular-expression: ^[a-z]+_[a-z]+$

So only use it if you know that the containers you care about do not use the same format (of lowercase-word, underscore, lowercase-word); or at least only run the first two lines, run echo $containersToRemove, and check the list before actually executing the deletions.

score 0 · Answer 21 · edited Sep 27 '21 at 05:53

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docker rmi -f $(docker images -q)

edited Sep 27 '21 at 05:53

Suraj Rao

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answered Sep 27 '21 at 05:51

Kandasamy Murugan

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Docker: How to delete all local Docker images

21 Answers21

Here is short and quick solution I used

Linked