DockerCLI/docs/reference/commandline/rm.md

rm

Usage:  docker rm [OPTIONS] CONTAINER [CONTAINER...]

Remove one or more containers

Options:
  -f, --force     Force the removal of a running container (uses SIGKILL)
      --help      Print usage
  -l, --link      Remove the specified link
  -v, --volumes   Remove the volumes associated with the container

Examples

$ docker rm /redis
/redis

This will remove the container referenced under the link /redis.

$ docker rm --link /webapp/redis
/webapp/redis

This will remove the underlying link between /webapp and the /redis containers removing all network communication.

$ docker rm --force redis
redis

The main process inside the container referenced under the link /redis will receive SIGKILL, then the container will be removed.

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

This command will delete all stopped containers. The command docker ps -a -q will return all existing container IDs and pass them to the rm command which will delete them. Any running containers will not be deleted.

$ docker rm -v redis
redis

This command will remove the container and any volumes associated with it. Note that if a volume was specified with a name, it will not be removed.

$ docker create -v awesome:/foo -v /bar --name hello redis
hello
$ docker rm -v hello

In this example, the volume for /foo will remain intact, but the volume for /bar will be removed. The same behavior holds for volumes inherited with --volumes-from.