images

`docker rmi`

Removes one or more images from the local image store. Alias for docker image rm.

Syntax

docker rmi [OPTIONS] IMAGE [IMAGE...]

Common flags

Flag	Purpose
-f, --force	Force removal even if the image is tagged in multiple repositories
--no-prune	Do not delete untagged parent images

Examples

docker rmi nginx:1.27-alpine

Remove a specific tagged image

docker rmi -f $(docker images -q)

Force-remove every image

docker image prune -a

Prune all images not used by any container

docker rmi $(docker images -f dangling=true -q)

Delete only dangling <none> layers

Gotcha

You cannot remove an image while any container (even stopped) references it — remove the container first, or use -f. -f only untags on multi-tag images; the underlying layers may remain until fully unreferenced.

Related commands

docker images

Lists images stored in the local image store with their repository, tag, ID, and size. Alias for docker image ls.

docker rm

Removes one or more stopped containers from the host. Use -f to force-remove a running container.

docker pull

Downloads an image or repository from a registry into the local image store. Defaults to Docker Hub and the latest tag when unspecified.

docker build

Builds an image from a Dockerfile and a build context. In Docker 23+ this invokes BuildKit by default and supports multi-platform, secrets, and cache mounts.

docker tag

Creates a new tag (alias) that refers to an existing image. Tagging is required before pushing to a registry whose hostname is not Docker Hub.

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