Run your Python script in a docker container

2022-05-24

With this step by step tutorial, you can run your Python scripts in a docker container. This will not only isolate your script from your system, it also provides a way to use the latest python version for your script.

Unrelated cat

You should have installed docker on your computer for this tutorial. You also need some Python script that you will run in the container. For your convenience, here is a little Python program that will print a message.

```
# A simple python script
```
```
def hello_docker(value):
```

    print(f'Hi, {value}')  # Press Ctrl+F8 to toggle the breakpoint.

```
if __name__ == '__main__':
```
```
    hello_docker('Python')
```

File: main.py

Create a new folder with a file named main.py in that folder.

Dockerfile

The container image is create with a Dockerfile. The following Docker file will use the latest Python image provided by

```
FROM python:latest
```
```
COPY main.py .
```
```
CMD [ "python", "./main.py" ]
```

File: Dockerfile

That is all you need. The image used in this Dockerfile is the offical python image maintained by the Docker Community. We can now create our own image that includes the script from the command line.

# docker build -t coseos/python-docker-example .

Create docker image

Once the image is created, we will use it to run our script in a container

# docker run -i -t --rm coseos/python-docker-example:latest

Run script in container

This will run the container in interactive mode and remove the container once the script is completed.

Summary

Using docker to run a python script in a container is simple and provides a lot of power.

Thorsten J. Lorenz

I am a software engineer and trainer with several decades of experience. To set this straight, i feel very comfortable with today's technologies. As a consultant and trainer, i provided professional trainings for beginners and experts in several programming languages and technologies, including Java, JavaScript and Python to name the most important ones.

Software development is my only profession. That's why i can actually code and also fulfill the role of an architect, CTO, lead software engineer, developer, tester and team lead. I worked in all of these positions in my career.