SoFunction
Updated on 2025-04-14

How to view logs in Docker

Viewing container logs in Docker is a common task that helps you debug applications, monitor their health, and resolve possible problems. Docker providesdocker logsCommands to easily access the container's standard output and standard error streams. The following is useddocker logsSome basic methods and other ways to get log information:

Use the docker logs command

View all logs

docker logs <container_name_or_id>

This will display all log outputs for the specified container. You can refer to a container with a container name or ID.

View logs in real time (similar totail -f

docker logs -f <container_name_or_id>

Plus-fOptions can keep logs updated, similar totail -fCommand until you stop it manually (usually by pressingCtrl+C)。

View recent log entries

docker logs --tail <number> <container_name_or_id>

use--tailOptions can limit the number of log entries to be output. For example,--tail 10Only the last 10 rows of logs will be displayed.

View logs within a specific time range

docker logs --since "2024-01-01" <container_name_or_id>
docker logs --until "2024-01-31" <container_name_or_id>

You can use--sinceand--untilOptions to filter logs for a specific time period. Date formats support multiple ways, such as ISO8601 or relative time (e.g.48hIndicates the past 48 hours).

Configure log driver

By default, Docker usesjson-fileLog driver that stores logs as JSON files. You can change the log driver as needed to better adapt to your needs, such as usingsyslogjournaldOr third-party services such asfluentdandlogstash

Setting up log driver when starting container

docker run --log-driver=<driver-name> ...

Modify the log driver for an existing container

For existing containers, you can modify the Docker daemon configuration file (usually/etc/docker/) and restart the daemon to change the global log driver settings. Note, however, that this affects all newly created containers, and not those that are running.

Using Docker Compose

If you're throughdocker-composeTo manage services for multiple containers, you can use the following command to view the logs of all services:

docker-compose logs

Similarly, add-fOptions to track logs in real time:

docker-compose logs -f

Other advanced skills

  • Log rotation: To prevent log files from occupying too much disk space, you can configure log rotation policy.
  • Log Aggregation Tool: For large deployments, consider integrating log aggregation tools (such as ELK Stack, Splunk) to centrally manage and analyze log data.

Through the above commands and configurations, you should be able to effectively manage and view the log information of the Docker container.

This is the end of this article about how to view logs in Docker. For more related docker log content, please search for my previous articles or continue browsing the related articles below. I hope everyone will support me in the future!