{"id":1603,"date":"2026-09-04T08:26:40","date_gmt":"2026-09-04T08:26:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/razvanvancea.ro\/blog\/?p=1603"},"modified":"2026-09-04T08:41:52","modified_gmt":"2026-09-04T08:41:52","slug":"customizing-docker-ps-output-with-format","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/razvanvancea.ro\/blog\/2026\/09\/04\/customizing-docker-ps-output-with-format\/","title":{"rendered":"Customizing docker ps Output with –format"},"content":{"rendered":"
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The default docker ps<\/strong> output can contain more information than you actually need.<\/p>

With the --format option, you can choose exactly which columns to display.<\/pre>
For example:<\/p>
docker ps --format \"table {{.Ports}}\\t{{.Status}}\\t{{.Names}}\"<\/pre>
This displays only the Ports, Status, and Names columns, making the output much easier to scan.

Note: It can be configured with other columns that are relevant to you (e.g. ID)<\/p>
Example: docker ps<\/strong><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t
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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\"docker-ps\"\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t
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Example: docker ps --format \"table {{.Ports}}\\t{{.Status}}\\t{{.Names}}\"<\/strong><\/pre>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t
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How to turn this into command into a handy CLI alias (e.g. dps)<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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1. Add the alias to your shell configuration<\/pre>
For Bash, open either ~\/.bashrc<\/code> or ~\/.bash_profile<\/code>:<\/p>
nano ~\/.bashrc<\/code><\/p>
Then add:<\/p>
alias dps='docker ps --format \"table {{.Ports}}\\t{{.Status}}\\t{{.Names}}\"'<\/code><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t
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2. Reload the configuration

Run:

source ~\/.bashrc<\/code>

If you added the alias to .bash_profile<\/code>, run:

source ~\/.bash_profile<\/code><\/pre>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t
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3. Use the alias<\/pre>
From now on, simply run:<\/p>
dps<\/code><\/p>
and you’ll get the customized docker ps<\/code> output without having to type the full command every time.<\/p>
\u00a0<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t
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Tip:<\/strong> You can customize the format further by using other Docker placeholders such as {{.ID}}<\/code>, {{.Image}}<\/code>, {{.Command}}<\/code>, {{.CreatedAt}}<\/code>, and {{.RunningFor}}<\/code>.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t
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Enjoyed this article?
I share more practical automation tips on\u00a0YouTube<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0LinkedIn<\/strong><\/a>.<\/p>
Need structured guidance instead of learning alone?<\/strong>
I offer\u00a01-on-1 mentoring<\/strong>\u00a0– learn more \u2192\u00a0HERE<\/a><\/strong><\/p>
Or email me at\u00a0iamqarv [at] gmail [dot] com<\/strong><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The default docker ps output can contain more information than you actually need. With the…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1614,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1603","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t