I am running a docker exec -it ... command and I need to use an environment variable of my docker container. An example:
docker exec -it container_id command_here param_1 $param_2_as_env_variable
In the case above, it pulls param_2_as_env_variable from host machine, and not the docker container. Is it possible to use env variable from container itself while running docker exec ... command from another machine?
Update: I can use ouput of docker exec -it container_id printenv | grep .... But I couldn't separate value and key. How can I get only value here?
Something like this could work (it assumes, the container has a shell installed)
docker exec -it container_id sh -c 'command_here param_1 $param_2_as_env_variable'
For example the following works:
docker exec -it test sh -c 'echo $HOSTNAME'
to give the host name of the container.
You need to escape the variable to pass it to the docker exec command unresolved:
Try:
docker exec -it container_id command_here param_1 \$param_2_as_env_variable
Related
To run a bash terminal in a Docker container I can run the following:
$ docker exec -it <container> /bin/bash
However, I want to execute a command in the container automatically. For example, if I want to open a bash terminal in the container and create a file I would expect to run something like:
docker exec -it <container> /bin/bash -c "touch foo.txt"
However, this doesn't work... Is there a simple way to achieve this? Of course, I could type the command after opening the container, but I want to open a bash terminal and run a command at the same time.
You can run your touch command and then spawn another shell :
docker exec -it <container> /bin/bash -c "touch foo.txt; exec bash"
Works perfectly fine for me
~# docker run -tid --rm --name test ubuntu:20.04
~# docker exec -it test /bin/bash -c "touch /foo.txt"
~# docker exec -it test /bin/bash
root#b6b0efbb13be:/# ls -ltr foo.txt
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 0 Mar 7 05:35 foo.txt
Easy solution:
docker exec -it <container> touch foo.txt
You can verify
docker exec -it <container> ls
This was tested with alpine image.
Remember that in docker images there is a entrypoint and a command. Now we are editing the command of the default entrypoint for alpine, via docker exec
It depends of the entrypoint if env variablers are load or not, $PATH ..., so other images maybe you need to write /bin/touch or /usr/bin/ls
Good luck!
When you run docker exec -it <container> /bin/bash -c "touch foo.txt", container sends 0 exit code so that it means the task is done and you'll be returned to your host.
When you run docker exec -it <container /bin/bash, bash shell is not terminated until you explicitly type exit or use CTRL+D in bash environment. bash is continuously running.
This is why when you run the second command, it goes to bash, runs your command (touches) and then exits.
I'd like to know if there's a way to do this
Let's say the dockerfile contains this line, that specifies path of an executable
ENV CLI /usr/local/bin/myprogram
I'd like to be able to call this program using ENV variable name through exec command.
For example
docker exec -it <my container> 'echo something-${CLI}
Expecting
something-/usr/local/bin/myprogram
However that returns:
OCI runtime exec failed: exec failed: container_linux.go:348: starting container process caused "exec: \"${CLI} do something\": executable file not found in $PATH": unknown
Ok, I found a way to do it, all you need to do is evaluate command with bash
docker exec -it <container id> bash -c 'echo something-${CLI}'
returns something-/usr/local/bin/myprogram
If the CLI environment variable is not already set in the container, you can also pass it in such as:
docker exec -it -e CLI=/usr/local/bin/myprogram <container id> bash -c 'echo something-${CLI}'
See the help file:
docker exec --help
Usage: docker exec [OPTIONS] CONTAINER COMMAND [ARG...]
Run a command in a running container
Options:
-d, --detach Detached mode: run command in the background
-e, --env list Set environment variables
....
In it's original revision docker exec -it <my container> '${CLI} do something' with the expectation that ${CLI} will be substituted with /usr/local/bin/myprogram (as the exec COMMAND) and everything after passed as ARG's to /usr/local/bin/myprogram will not work, this is clearly documented: https://docs.docker.com/engine/reference/commandline/exec/
COMMAND should be an executable, a chained or a quoted command will not work. Example:
docker exec -ti my_container "echo a && echo b" will not work, but
docker exec -ti my_container sh -c "echo a && echo b" will.
Following the documentation, this will work as expected: docker exec -ti my_container sh -c "${CLI} foo", ${CLI} will be be executed after variable expansion and the argument(s) passed to the shell script set in ${CLI} (e.g. sh -c /usr/local/bin/myprogram foo).
Alternatively you could set the ENTRYPOINT to your script and pass in arguments with CMD or at the command line with docker run for example:
Given the below directory structure:
.
├── Dockerfile
└── example.sh
The Dockerfile contents:
FROM ubuntu:18.04
COPY example.sh /bin
RUN chmod u+x /bin/example.sh
ENTRYPOINT ["/bin/example.sh"]
CMD ["bla"]
And the example.sh script contents:
#!/bin/bash
echo $1
The CMD specified in the Dockerfile after the ENTRYPOINT will be the default argument for your script and you can override the default argument on the command line (assuming that the image is built and tagged as example:0.1):
user#host> docker run --rm example:0.1
bla
user#host> docker run --rm example:0.1 "arbitrary text"
arbitrary text
Note: this is my go to article for differences between ENTRYPOINT and CMD in Dockerfile's: https://medium.freecodecamp.org/docker-entrypoint-cmd-dockerfile-best-practices-abc591c30e21
Is there any shortcut command to connect to a docker container without running docker exec -it 'container_id' bash every time?
Here is a shorter command line shortcut to:
Check if a container is running
If running, connect to a running container using docker exec -it <container> bash command:
Script docker-enter:
#!/bin/bash
name="${1?needs one argument}"
containerId=$(docker ps | awk -v app="$name:" '$2 ~ app{print $1}')
if [[ -n "$containerId" ]]; then
docker exec -it $containerId bash
else
echo "No docker container with name: $name is running"
fi
Then run it as:
docker-enter webapp
I'm using the following alias on OS X:
alias dex='function _dex(){ docker exec -i -t "$(basename $(pwd) | tr -d "[\-_]")_$1_1" /bin/bash -c "export TERM=xterm; exec bash" };_dex'
In the same directory as my docker-files, I run "dex php" to enter the PHP container.
If random id is complicated. Start container with name docker run --name test image and connect with its name docker exec -it test bash.
I am using a shell script on Linux in order to execute some Docker commands :
docker exec -t -i test1 passwd
...
docker exec -t -i test2 passwd
And on the second exec command I receive the following error :
docker: "exec" requires a minimum of 2 arguments.
What am I doing wrong, or what am I missing?
Thank you in advance.
I have had the same mistake
docker exec -it gallant_bose
C:\Program Files\Docker Toolbox\docker.exe: "exec" requires a minimum of 2 arguments.
See 'C:\Program Files\Docker Toolbox\docker.exe exec --help'.
Usage: docker exec [OPTIONS] CONTAINER COMMAND [ARG...]
Run a command in a running container
The solution, add the command bash in my case:
$ docker exec -it gallant_bose bash
root#e747ffecc84d:/#
Best wishes!
Update
Also, you can execute docker exec -it gallant_bose /bin/bash for some images
Are you sure that test2 exists?
I don't see any error in your command. If problem persists, can you provide the docker ps and docker images output please?
What's the simplest way to get an environment variable from a docker container that has not been declared in the Dockerfile?
For instance, an environment variable that has been set through some docker exec container /bin/bash session?
I can do docker exec container env | grep ENV_VAR, but I would prefer something that just returns the value.
I've tried using docker exec container echo "$ENV_VAR", but the substitution seems to happen outside of the container, so I don't get the env var from the container, but rather the env var from my own computer.
Thanks.
To view all env variables:
docker exec container env
To get one:
docker exec container env | grep VARIABLE | cut -d'=' -f2
The proper way to run echo "$ENV_VAR" inside the container so that the variable substitution happens in the container is:
docker exec <container_id> bash -c 'echo "$ENV_VAR"'
You can use printenv VARIABLE instead of /bin/bash -c 'echo $VARIABLE. It's much simpler and it does not perform substitution:
docker exec container printenv VARIABLE
The downside of using docker exec is that it requires a running container, so docker inspect -f might be handy if you're unsure a container is running.
Example #1. Output a list of space-separated environment variables in the specified container:
docker inspect -f \
'{{range $index, $value := .Config.Env}}{{$value}} {{end}}' container_name
the output will look like this:
ENV_VAR1=value1 ENV_VAR2=value2 ENV_VAR3=value3
Example #2. Output each env var on new line and grep the needed items, for example, the mysql container's settings could be retrieved like this:
docker inspect -f \
'{{range $index, $value := .Config.Env}}{{println $value}}{{end}}' \
container_name | grep MYSQL_
will output:
MYSQL_PASSWORD=secret
MYSQL_ROOT_PASSWORD=supersecret
MYSQL_USER=demo
MYSQL_DATABASE=demodb
MYSQL_MAJOR=5.5
MYSQL_VERSION=5.5.52
Example #3. Let's modify the example above to get a bash friendly output which can be directly used in your scripts:
docker inspect -f \
'{{range $index, $value := .Config.Env}}export {{$value}}{{println}}{{end}}' \
container_name | grep MYSQL
will output:
export MYSQL_PASSWORD=secret
export MYSQL_ROOT_PASSWORD=supersecret
export MYSQL_USER=demo
export MYSQL_DATABASE=demodb
export MYSQL_MAJOR=5.5
export MYSQL_VERSION=5.5.52
If you want to dive deeper, then go to Go’s text/template package documentation with all the details of the format.
Since we are dealing with JSON and unlike the accepted answer, we don't need to exec the container.
docker inspect <NAME|ID> | jq '.[] | .Config.Env'
Output sample
[
"PATH=/usr/local/sbin:/usr/local/bin:/usr/sbin:/usr/bin:/sbin:/bin",
"NGINX_VERSION=1.19.4",
"NJS_VERSION=0.4.4",
"PKG_RELEASE=1~buster"
]
To retrieve a specific variable
docker inspect <NAME|ID> | jq -r '.[].Config.Env[]|select(match("^<VAR_NAME>"))|.[index("=")+1:]'
See jq
None of the above answers show you how to extract a variable from a non-running container (if you use the echo approach with run, you won't get any output).
Simply run with printenv, like so:
docker run --rm <container> printenv <MY_VAR>
(Note that docker-compose instead of docker works too)
If by any chance you use VSCode and has installed the docker extension, just right+click on the docker you want to check (within the docker extension), click on Inspect, and there search for env, you will find all your env variables values
We can modify entrypoint of a non-running container with the docker run command.
Example show PATH environment variable:
using bash and echo: This answer claims that echo will not produce any output, which is incorrect.
docker run --rm --entrypoint bash <container> -c 'echo "$PATH"'
using printenv
docker run --rm --entrypoint printenv <container> PATH
#aisbaa's answer works if you don't care when the environment variable was declared. If you want the environment variable, even if it has been declared inside of an exec /bin/bash session, use something like:
IFS="=" read -a out <<< $(docker exec container /bin/bash -c "env | grep ENV_VAR" 2>&1)
It's not very pretty, but it gets the job done.
To then get the value, use:
echo ${out[1]}
This command inspects docker stack processes' environment in the host :
pidof dockerd containerd containerd-shim | tr ' ' '\n' \
| xargs -L1 -I{} -- sudo xargs -a '/proc/{}/environ' -L1 -0
The first way we use to find the ENV variables is docker inspect <container name>
The second way is docker exec <4 alphanumeric letter of CONTAINER id> bash -c 'echo "$ENV_VAR"'
There is a misconception in the question, that causes confusion:
you cannot access a "running session", so no bash session can change anything.
docker exec -ti container /bin/bash
starts a new console process in the container, so if you do export VAR=VALUE this will go away as soon as you leave the shell, and it won't exist anymore.
Perhaps a good example:
# assuming TESTVAR did not existed previously this is empty
docker exec container env | grep TESTVAR
# -> TESTVAR=a new value!
docker exec container /bin/bash -c 'TESTVAR="a new value!" env' | grep TESTVAR
# again empty
docker exec container env | grep TESTVAR
The variables from env come from the Dockerfile or command, docker itself and whatever the entrypoint sets.
The other answers here are good. But if you really need to get the environmental properties used when starting a program, then you can inspect the /proc/pid/environ contents in the container, where pid is the container process id of the running comand.
# environmental props
docker exec container cat /proc/pid/environ | tr '\0' '\n'
# you can check this is the correct pid by checking the ran command
docker exec container cat /proc/pid/cmdline | tr '\0' ' '