docker-diff

docker diff container

docker diff inspects changes to files or directories on a container's filesystem since the container was created from its base image. The output categorizes each change with a single-character prefix: A for added, C for changed/modified, and D for deleted.This command is useful for understanding what modifications have occurred within a running or stopped container, which helps in debugging, auditing changes, or determining what should be captured in a new image via docker commit. Only changes in the container's writable layer are reported; the underlying image layers remain unchanged.You can reference the container by name or by full/shortened container ID.

A

A file or directory was added.

A file or directory was changed (modified content or metadata).

A file or directory was deleted.

The diff operation examines the entire container filesystem, so it may take time for containers with extensive modifications. No filtering options are available; the full diff is always shown.

docker diff has been available since the early versions of Docker. It is an alias for docker container diff, which is the preferred form in newer Docker CLI versions.

docker-container-diff(1), docker-commit(1), docker-inspect(1), docker-cp(1)