How to List Volumes in Docker: Commands and Examples

Use the docker volume ls command to list all Docker volumes on your system. This command shows volume names and drivers, helping you manage storage used by containers.

Syntax

The basic command to list Docker volumes is docker volume ls. You can add options like -q to show only volume names or --filter to narrow down the list.

• docker volume ls: Lists all volumes with details.
• -q: Shows only volume names.
• --filter: Filters volumes by criteria like dangling or name.

bash

docker volume ls

docker volume ls -q

docker volume ls --filter dangling=true

Example

This example shows how to list all Docker volumes and then list only their names.

bash

docker volume ls

docker volume ls -q

Output

DRIVER              VOLUME NAME
overlay              my_volume_1
local                my_volume_2

my_volume_1
my_volume_2

Common Pitfalls

Sometimes users expect docker volume ls to show detailed information like size or mount points, but it only lists volume names and drivers. To see more details, use docker volume inspect <volume_name>.

Another common mistake is confusing volumes with bind mounts; volumes are managed by Docker and listed with this command, while bind mounts are host directories linked to containers and not listed here.

bash

docker volume ls
# Correct: lists volumes

docker volume ls -l
# Wrong: -l is not a valid option and will cause an error

# To see details use:
docker volume inspect my_volume_1

Quick Reference

Here is a quick cheat sheet for listing Docker volumes:

Command	Description
docker volume ls	List all Docker volumes with driver and name
docker volume ls -q	List only volume names
docker volume ls --filter dangling=true	List volumes not used by any container
docker volume inspect	Show detailed info about a specific volume

Key Takeaways

Use docker volume ls to see all Docker volumes on your system.

Add -q to list only volume names for simpler output.

Use docker volume inspect to get detailed information about a volume.

Remember volumes are different from bind mounts and only volumes appear in this list.

Avoid invalid options like -l which cause errors.