How to List Docker Images: Simple Commands Explained

Use the docker images command to list all Docker images on your system. This command shows image IDs, tags, creation dates, and sizes in a table format.

Syntax

The basic command to list Docker images is docker images. You can add options like -a to show all images including intermediate layers, or --filter to narrow down results.

• docker images: Lists all top-level images.
• docker images -a: Lists all images including intermediate layers.
• docker images --filter "dangling=true": Lists images not tagged and not referenced by any container.

bash

docker images [OPTIONS]

# Common options:
# -a, --all       Show all images (default hides intermediate images)
# --filter filter Filter output based on conditions provided

Example

This example shows how to list all Docker images on your system using the basic command. It displays columns like REPOSITORY, TAG, IMAGE ID, CREATED, and SIZE.

bash

docker images

Output

REPOSITORY          TAG       IMAGE ID       CREATED        SIZE
ubuntu              latest    2ca708c1c9cc   2 weeks ago    73.9MB
nginx               stable    4bb46517cac3   3 weeks ago    133MB
myapp               v1.0      7d9495d03763   5 days ago     256MB

Common Pitfalls

One common mistake is expecting docker images to show running containers instead of images. To see running containers, use docker ps.

Another pitfall is not using -a when you want to see all images including intermediate layers, which can be important for debugging.

bash

docker ps  # Wrong command to list images

docker images -a  # Correct command to list all images including intermediate

Quick Reference

Command	Description
docker images	List all top-level Docker images
docker images -a	List all images including intermediate layers
docker images --filter "dangling=true"	List untagged images not used by any container
docker images --format "{{.Repository}}: {{.Tag}}"	Custom output format showing repository and tag

Key Takeaways

Use docker images to see all your Docker images in a table format.

Add -a to include intermediate images in the list.

Use docker ps to list running containers, not images.

Filters help narrow down images, like showing only dangling images.

The output shows repository, tag, image ID, creation time, and size.