Make docker ps work on normal sized terminals

I’m sorry folks, but I cannot call this anything other than silly interface design:

[~]% docker ps
CONTAINER ID        IMAGE                                 COMMAND                  CREATED             STATUS                            PORTS                                                                                                NAMES
8467772b79aa        haproxy:1.7                           "/docker-entrypoin..."   5 minutes ago       Up 5 minutes                      127.0.0.235:80->80/tcp, 127.0.0.235:443->443/tcp, 127.0.0.235:8877->8877/tcp                         haproxy
726bc8270037        teamwork/launchpad:dev-env            "/bin/sh -c ./laun..."   5 minutes ago       Up 5 minutes                      9001/tcp                                                                                             launchpad
980c57aab6fa        elasticsearch:2.3                     "/docker-entrypoin..."   7 minutes ago       Up 7 minutes (healthy)            9200/tcp, 9300/tcp                                                                                   elasticsearch
8527ee711c3e        teamwork/deskcustomerportal:dev-env   "/bin/sh -c 'watch..."   About an hour ago   Up 24 minutes                     127.0.0.235:5150->5150/tcp                                                                           deskcustomerportal
d5d55fe9806c        teamwork/minio                        "minio server /export"   2 days ago          Up 7 minutes                      127.0.0.235:9000->9000/tcp                                                                           minio
de48a0dbe4d2        rabbitmq:3-management                 "docker-entrypoint..."   5 days ago          Up 7 minutes (healthy)            4369/tcp, 5671/tcp, 127.0.0.235:5672->5672/tcp, 15671/tcp, 25672/tcp, 127.0.0.235:15672->15672/tcp   rabbitmq
72563020b8ef        teamwork/desk:dev-env                 "/bin/sh -c ./desk"      7 days ago          Restarting (127) 52 seconds ago                                                                                                        desk
35209ff049e6        redis:alpine                          "docker-entrypoint..."   7 days ago          Up 7 minutes (healthy)            6379/tcp                                                                                             redis
89bba4de1280        teamwork/db:dev-env                   "docker-entrypoint..."   7 days ago          Up 24 minutes (healthy)           127.0.0.235:3306->3306/tcp                                                                           db

260 characters wide for a common command… It looks terrible on any vaguely normal sized terminal:

It’s exactly 56 characters too much for even a full-screen xterm(!) Guess I’ll have to buy a new 32 inch 4k HD screen to run Docker?

I’m not the first person who notices this ~~idiotic design~~ issue, and a --format switch was added after enough people complained.

Compare:

[~]% docker ps --format "table {{.ID}}  {{.Names}}\t{{.Image}}\t{{.Status}}"
CONTAINER ID  NAMES                IMAGE                                 STATUS
8467772b79aa  haproxy              haproxy:1.7                           Up 17 minutes
726bc8270037  launchpad            teamwork/launchpad:dev-env            Up 17 minutes
980c57aab6fa  elasticsearch        elasticsearch:2.3                     Up 19 minutes (healthy)
8527ee711c3e  deskcustomerportal   teamwork/deskcustomerportal:dev-env   Up 36 minutes
d5d55fe9806c  minio                teamwork/minio                        Up 19 minutes
de48a0dbe4d2  rabbitmq             rabbitmq:3-management                 Up 19 minutes (healthy)
72563020b8ef  desk                 teamwork/desk:dev-env                 Restarting (127) 19 seconds ago
35209ff049e6  redis                redis:alpine                          Up 19 minutes (healthy)
89bba4de1280  db                   teamwork/db:dev-env                   Up 36 minutes (healthy)

Still a bit larger than the standard 80 columns, but only by a bit (108 in this specific example), which is a hell of a lot better than 260.

You can add this to ~/.config/docker.json – ugh – to have it apply automatically:

{
    "psFormat": "table {{.ID}}  {{.Names}}\t{{.Image}}\t{{.Status}}",
    [...]
}

This is not only easier than a shell alias, but will also make it work for docker container ls.

You can check man docker-container-ls for the documentation on --format.

The lesson here is to use safe and sane defaults people … not everyone uses porn-sized terminal windows. Some of us have normal-sized windows!