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Docker Volume Commands Tutorial: Create, List, Inspect, and Remove Volumes

Q: Do I have to run docker volume create first?

No. docker run -v name:/path automatically creates a volume if it doesn't exist. Creating it first lets you add labels or driver options.

Q: Will docker volume prune delete my database?

Since Docker 23, docker volume prune deletes only **anonymous volumes that aren't used by any container**. Named volumes are kept. docker volume prune -a deletes unused named volumes too; see [Freeing disk space](/docker/cleanup/) for a hands-on example.

docker volume manages volumes. For the concepts and usage, see Volumes and data persistence.

Subcommands

Command	Description	Common options
`docker volume create [name]`	Create a volume (a random name is generated if none is provided)	`--label key=value`, `-d driver`, `-o option`
`docker volume ls`	List volumes	`-f filter`, `-q` names only, `--format`
`docker volume inspect name`	Show detailed information	`-f template`
`docker volume rm name...`	Remove volumes (volumes in use cannot be removed)	`-f`
`docker volume prune`	Remove unused anonymous volumes	`-a` include named volumes, `-f` skip confirmation, `--filter`

Filters for docker volume ls -f: dangling=true (not used by any container), name=partial-name, label=key=value, and driver=local.

Create, write, and read

$ docker volume create mydata
mydata

$ docker volume ls
DRIVER    VOLUME NAME
local     2bc47e5efc92fb9cbc751a0d25853c6c800d4e4806c256fb7d68fa9dff112fcd
local     6729482c30a3f652c14f542c6f341c811f087fc9626efcfdf00a49a5ae721e2c
local     78297657b68403b39f39940496ce3faf49e6257a11d5103d043077a36261236a
local     a23af26d1da49e018edecb6e29f9be3875fb02e8c50510a40fbb5cf49da94f81
local     mydata

$ docker volume inspect mydata
[
    {
        "CreatedAt": "2026-10-13T05:28:56Z",
        "Driver": "local",
        "Labels": null,
        "Mountpoint": "/var/lib/docker/volumes/mydata/_data",
        "Name": "mydata",
        "Options": null,
        "Scope": "local"
    }
]

$ docker run --rm -v mydata:/data alpine:3.23 sh -c "echo saved > /data/a.txt"

$ docker run --rm -v mydata:/data alpine:3.23 cat /data/a.txt
saved

In ls, besides mydata, there are several long-named anonymous volumes left behind by earlier containers (for example, automatically created by a VOLUME declaration in the postgres image).
Mountpoint in inspect is the actual location of the data on the Docker host.
Two different containers mounted mydata one after the other, and the second read the file written by the first: the data is in the volume, independent of the container.

Find and clean up dangling volumes

$ docker run --rm -v /tmpdata alpine:3.23 true

$ docker volume ls -f dangling=true
DRIVER    VOLUME NAME
local     2bc47e5efc92fb9cbc751a0d25853c6c800d4e4806c256fb7d68fa9dff112fcd
local     6729482c30a3f652c14f542c6f341c811f087fc9626efcfdf00a49a5ae721e2c
local     78297657b68403b39f39940496ce3faf49e6257a11d5103d043077a36261236a
local     a23af26d1da49e018edecb6e29f9be3875fb02e8c50510a40fbb5cf49da94f81
local     mydata

$ docker volume prune -f
Deleted Volumes:
a23af26d1da49e018edecb6e29f9be3875fb02e8c50510a40fbb5cf49da94f81
6729482c30a3f652c14f542c6f341c811f087fc9626efcfdf00a49a5ae721e2c
78297657b68403b39f39940496ce3faf49e6257a11d5103d043077a36261236a
2bc47e5efc92fb9cbc751a0d25853c6c800d4e4806c256fb7d68fa9dff112fcd

Total reclaimed space: 348.9MB

-v /tmpdata specifies only a path inside the container, with no name, so Docker creates an anonymous volume. --rm also removes it when the container is removed.
dangling=true lists all volumes that no container is currently using, including the named volume mydata.
prune -f removed only the four anonymous volumes and reclaimed 348.9 MB; the named volume mydata was kept.

Labels

$ docker volume create --label env=dev tagged
tagged

$ docker volume ls -f label=env=dev
DRIVER    VOLUME NAME
local     tagged

$ docker volume rm mydata tagged
mydata
tagged

Add labels to volumes to make them easier to filter and clean up by project or environment, for example, with docker volume prune --filter label=env=dev.

Exercises

Exercise: Create a volume labeled project=demo, then use one command to delete all unused volumes with that label, including named volumes.

Answer

docker volume create --label project=demo demo_data
docker volume prune -a -f --filter label=project=demo

-a includes named volumes in the removal scope, and --filter limits removal to volumes with this label.

FAQ

Do I have to run docker volume create first?

No. docker run -v name:/path automatically creates a volume if it doesn't exist. Creating it first lets you add labels or driver options.

Will docker volume prune delete my database?

Since Docker 23, docker volume prune deletes only **anonymous volumes that aren't used by any container**. Named volumes are kept. docker volume prune -a deletes unused named volumes too; see [Freeing disk space](/docker/cleanup/) for a hands-on example.

How do I back up a volume?

Use a temporary container that mounts both the volume and a host directory, then package the data with tar. See [Volumes and data persistence](/docker/volumes/) for an example.

Updated October 14, 2026