Finding Docker container processes? (from host point of view)

Question

I am doing some tests on docker and containers and I was wondering:

Is there a method I can use to find all process associated with a docker container by its name or ID from the host point of view.

After all, at the end of the day a container is a set of virtualized processes.

Answer 1

You can use docker top command. This command lists all processes running within your container.

For instance this command on a single process container on my box displays:

UID                 PID                 PPID                C                   STIME               TTY                 TIME                CMD root                14097               13930               0                   23:17               pts/6               00:00:00            /bin/bash 

All methods mentioned by others are also possible to use but this one should be easiest.

Update:

To simply get the main process id within the container use this command:

 docker inspect -f '{{.State.Pid}}' <container id>