DOKK / manpages / debian 11 / podman / podman-container-exists.1.en
podman-container-exists(1)() podman-container-exists(1)()

podman-container-exists - Check if a container exists in local storage

podman container exists [options] container

podman container exists checks if a container exists in local storage. The ID or Name of the container may be used as input. Podman will return an exit code of 0 when the container is found. A 1 will be returned otherwise. An exit code of 125 indicates there was an issue accessing the local storage.

--external=true|false

Check for external containers as well as Podman containers. These external containers are generally created via other container technology such as Buildah or CRI-O.

-h, --help Print usage statement

Check if an container called webclient exists in local storage (the container does actually exist).

$ podman container exists webclient
$ echo $?
0

Check if an container called webbackend exists in local storage (the container does not actually exist).

$ podman container exists webbackend
$ echo $?
1

Check if an container called ubi8-working-container created via Buildah exists in local storage (the container does not actually exist).

$ podman container exists --external ubi8-working-container
$ echo $?
1

podman(1)

November 2018, Originally compiled by Brent Baude (bbaude at redhat dot com)