Clear a docker container's logfile

Docker does not currently provide a method of cleaning/truncating a container’s logs, however you can use this simple script to easily clear them (individually). The script below also supports containers started with both docker and docker-compose (thanks Edgard).

Save the following to something like /usr/local/bin/docker-clear-log.

#!/bin/bash -e

CONTAINER=$1

if [[ -z $CONTAINER ]]; then
    echo "No container specified"
    exit 1
fi

if [[ "$(docker ps -aq -f name=^/"$CONTAINER"$ 2> /dev/null)" == "" ]]; then

    CONTAINER="$(docker-compose ps "$CONTAINER" 2> /dev/null | awk 'END {print $1}')"

    if [[ -z $CONTAINER ]]; then
        echo "Container \"$1\" does not exist, exiting."
        exit 1
    fi
fi

LOG=$(docker inspect -f '{{.LogPath}}' "$CONTAINER" 2> /dev/null)
truncate -s 0 "$LOG"

Don’t forget to make the script executable: chmod 755 /usr/local/bin/docker-clear-log

Then just run docker-clear-log <container>.