How to continue a Docker container which has exited

Question

Consider:

docker run -it centos /bin/bash 

I pressed Ctrl+D to exit it.

I want to continue to run this container, but I found I can't.

The only method is

docker commit `docker ps -q -l` my_image docker run -it my_image /bin/bash 

Am I right? Is there a better method? (I'm using docker 0.8.0.)

Answer 1

You can restart an existing container after it exited and your changes are still there.

docker start  `docker ps -q -l` # restart it in the background docker attach `docker ps -q -l` # reattach the terminal & stdin 

Answer 2

docker start -a -i `docker ps -q -l` 

Explanation:

docker start start a container (requires name or ID)
-a attach to container
-i interactive mode
docker ps List containers
-q list only container IDs
-l list only last created container