Volumes & Bind Mounts

Code

# Create and list named volumes
docker volume create pgdata
docker volume ls
docker volume inspect pgdata

# Mount a named volume
docker run -d --name db -v pgdata:/var/lib/postgresql/data postgres:16

# Bind mount a host directory (read-only flag supported)
docker run -v $(pwd)/config:/etc/app:ro myapp

# Remove unused volumes
docker volume prune

# Copy files between host and container
docker cp ./dump.sql db:/tmp/dump.sql
docker cp db:/var/log/app.log ./app.log

Explanation

Named volumes are managed by Docker and survive container removal, making them ideal for databases. Bind mounts mount a host path directly and are great for live editing during development. docker cp copies files between the host and a running container.

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