NAME

       podman-exec - Execute a command in a running container

SYNOPSIS

       podman exec [options] container [command [arg ...]]

       podman container exec [options] container [command [arg ...]]

DESCRIPTION

       podman exec executes a command in a running container.

OPTIONS

   --detach, -d
       Start the exec session, but do not attach to it. The command runs in the background, and the exec session
       is automatically removed when it completes. The podman exec command prints the ID of the exec session and
       exits immediately after it starts.

   --detach-keys=sequence
       Specify  the  key  sequence  for detaching a container. Format is a single character [a-Z] or one or more
       ctrl-<value> characters where <value> is one of: a-z, @, ^, [,  ,  or  _.  Specifying  ""  disables  this
       feature. The default is ctrl-p,ctrl-q.

       This option can also be set in containers.conf(5) file.

   --env, -e=env
       Set environment variables.

       This  option  allows  arbitrary  environment  variables that are available for the process to be launched
       inside of the container. If an environment variable is specified without a value, Podman checks the  host
       environment  for  a  value  and  set the variable only if it is set on the host. As a special case, if an
       environment variable ending in * is specified without a value, Podman searches the host  environment  for
       variables starting with the prefix and adds those variables to the container.

   --env-file=file
       Read in a line-delimited file of environment variables.

   --interactive, -i
       When set to true, keep stdin open even if not attached. The default is false.

   --latest, -l
       Instead  of  providing  the container name or ID, use the last created container.  Note: the last started
       container can be from other users of Podman on the host machine.  (This option is not available with  the
       remote Podman client, including Mac and Windows (excluding WSL2) machines)

   --preserve-fds=N
       Pass  down to the process N additional file descriptors (in addition to 0, 1, 2).  The total FDs are 3+N.
       (This option is not available with the remote Podman client, including Mac and Windows  (excluding  WSL2)
       machines)

   --privileged
       Give extended privileges to this container. The default is false.

       By  default,  Podman  containers  are  unprivileged (=false) and cannot, for example, modify parts of the
       operating system. This is because by default a container is only allowed limited  access  to  devices.  A
       "privileged"  container is given the same access to devices as the user launching the container, with the
       exception of virtual consoles (/dev/tty\d+) when running in systemd mode (--systemd=always).

       A privileged container turns off the security features that isolate the container from the host.  Dropped
       Capabilities,  limited  devices, read-only mount points, Apparmor/SELinux separation, and Seccomp filters
       are all disabled.  Due to the disabled security features, the privileged field should almost never be set
       as containers can easily break out of confinement.

       Containers running in a user namespace (e.g., rootless containers) cannot have more privileges  than  the
       user that launched them.

   --tty, -t
       Allocate a pseudo-TTY. The default is false.

       When  set  to true, Podman allocates a pseudo-tty and attach to the standard input of the container. This
       can be used, for example, to run a throwaway interactive shell.

       NOTE: The --tty flag prevents redirection of standard output.  It combines  STDOUT  and  STDERR,  it  can
       insert  control  characters,  and it can hang pipes. This option is only used when run interactively in a
       terminal. When feeding input to Podman, use -i only, not -it.

   --user, -u=user[:group]
       Sets the username or UID used and, optionally, the groupname or GID for the specified command. Both  user
       and group may be symbolic or numeric.

       Without  this  argument, the command runs as the user specified in the container image. Unless overridden
       by a USER command in the Containerfile or by a value passed to this option, this user generally  defaults
       to root.

       When  a  user  namespace  is not in use, the UID and GID used within the container and on the host match.
       When user namespaces are in use, however, the UID and GID in the container may correspond to another  UID
       and  GID  on  the host. In rootless containers, for example, a user namespace is always used, and root in
       the container by default corresponds to the UID and GID of the user invoking Podman.

   --workdir, -w=dir
       Working directory inside the container.

       The default working directory for running binaries within a container is the  root  directory  (/).   The
       image  developer  can set a different default with the WORKDIR instruction. The operator can override the
       working directory by using the -w option.

Exit Status

       The exit code from podman exec gives information about why the command within the container failed to run
       or why it exited.  When podman exec exits with  a  non-zero  code,  the  exit  codes  follow  the  chroot
       standard, see below:

       125 The error is with Podman itself

       $ podman exec --foo ctrID /bin/sh; echo $?
       Error: unknown flag: --foo
       125

       126 The contained command cannot be invoked

       $ podman exec ctrID /etc; echo $?
       Error: container_linux.go:346: starting container process caused "exec: \"/etc\": permission denied": OCI runtime error
       126

       127 The contained command cannot be found

       $ podman exec ctrID foo; echo $?
       Error: container_linux.go:346: starting container process caused "exec: \"foo\": executable file not found in $PATH": OCI runtime error
       127

       Exit code The contained command exit code

       $ podman exec ctrID /bin/sh -c 'exit 3'; echo $?
       3

EXAMPLES

       $ podman exec -it ctrID ls
       $ podman exec -it -w /tmp myCtr pwd
       $ podman exec --user root ctrID ls

SEE ALSO

       podman(1), podman-run(1)

HISTORY

       December 2017, Originally compiled by Brent Baudebbaude@redhat.com ⟨mailto:bbaude@redhat.com⟩

                                                                                                  podman-exec(1)