How to restart the stopped docker/whalesay container?

Question

As Docker for Mac getting started document instructed.

docker run docker/whalesay cowsay boo

Every time, I run this, a new container is created, run and stopped.

CONTAINER ID        IMAGE               COMMAND                  CREATED             STATUS                         PORTS                         NAMES


0d96e4bd9c14        docker/whalesay     "cowsay boo boo"         11 days ago         Exited (0) 5 minutes ago                                     high_archimedes
3a079559382e        docker/whalesay     "cowsay boo"             11 days ago         Exited (0) 26 minutes ago                                    boring_ritchie

How could I not create a new container of the docker/whalesay any more but restart existing stopped container of docker/whalesay and get the same result as

docker run docker/whalesay cowsay boo

?

I tried

docker start 0d96e4bd9c14

the result only shows

0d96e4bd9c14

Not the whale image as whalesay would show.

Thanks!

---

Answer:

Based on the answer by Rico

"The container starts the second time but the difference is that you don't see the stdout as a default with start"

docker start -a 0d96e4bd9c14

add -a, then I can see the stdout result.

Answer 1

You can create a new container that is interactive.

docker run -ti --entrypoint=sh "imageID"

Replace "imageID" with your image ID. Image IDs can be found by 'docker images' command. Then you can type a command (e.g., cowsay "say something") in the prompt as many times as you want. You can exit by typing 'exit', it will stop the container. When you want to start the same container, you can start it by

docker start -i "containerID"

Answer 2

The container starts the second time but the difference is that you don't see the stdout as a default with start

For example:

$ docker run docker/whalesay cowsay boo
Unable to find image 'docker/whalesay:latest' locally
latest: Pulling from docker/whalesay
e9e06b06e14c: Pull complete 
a82efea989f9: Pull complete 
37bea4ee0c81: Pull complete 
07f8e8c5e660: Pull complete 
676c4a1897e6: Pull complete 
5b74edbcaa5b: Pull complete 
1722f41ddcb5: Pull complete 
99da72cfe067: Pull complete 
5d5bd9951e26: Pull complete 
fb434121fc77: Already exists 
Digest: sha256:178598e51a26abbc958b8a2e48825c90bc22e641de3d31e18aaf55f3258ba93b
Status: Downloaded newer image for docker/whalesay:latest
 _____ 
< boo >
 ----- 
    \
     \
      \     
                    ##        .            
              ## ## ##       ==            
           ## ## ## ##      ===            
       /""""""""""""""""___/ ===        
  ~~~ {~~ ~~~~ ~~~ ~~~~ ~~ ~ /  ===- ~~~   
       \______ o          __/            
        \    \        __/             
          \____\______/   
$ 
$ sudo docker ps
CONTAINER ID        IMAGE               COMMAND             CREATED             STATUS              PORTS               NAMES
$ sudo docker ps -a
CONTAINER ID        IMAGE                    COMMAND             CREATED             STATUS                      PORTS               NAMES
3230d1589aed        docker/whalesay:latest   "cowsay boo"        32 seconds ago      Exited (0) 31 seconds ago                       evil_curie          
$ sudo docker start 3230d1589aed
3230d1589aed

Now check the STATUS that says Exited (0) 2 seconds ago:

$ sudo docker ps -a
CONTAINER ID        IMAGE                    COMMAND             CREATED             STATUS                     PORTS               NAMES
3230d1589aed        docker/whalesay:latest   "cowsay boo"        46 seconds ago      Exited (0) 2 seconds ago                       evil_curie          

You can see the output with docker logs:

$ sudo docker logs 3230d1589aed
 _____ 
< boo >
 ----- 
    \
     \
      \     
                    ##        .            
              ## ## ##       ==            
           ## ## ## ##      ===            
       /""""""""""""""""___/ ===        
  ~~~ {~~ ~~~~ ~~~ ~~~~ ~~ ~ /  ===- ~~~   
       \______ o          __/            
        \    \        __/             
          \____\______/   
 _____ 
< boo >
 ----- 
    \
     \
      \     
                    ##        .            
              ## ## ##       ==            
           ## ## ## ##      ===            
       /""""""""""""""""___/ ===        
  ~~~ {~~ ~~~~ ~~~ ~~~~ ~~ ~ /  ===- ~~~   
       \______ o          __/            
        \    \        __/             
          \____\______/ 
$