Synopsis
Execute a command in a container.
kubectl exec (POD | TYPE/NAME) [-c CONTAINER] [flags] -- COMMAND [args...]
Examples
  # Get output from running the 'date' command from pod mypod, using the first container by default
  kubectl exec mypod -- date
  
  # Get output from running the 'date' command in ruby-container from pod mypod
  kubectl exec mypod -c ruby-container -- date
  
  # Switch to raw terminal mode; sends stdin to 'bash' in ruby-container from pod mypod
  # and sends stdout/stderr from 'bash' back to the client
  kubectl exec mypod -c ruby-container -i -t -- bash -il
  
  # List contents of /usr from the first container of pod mypod and sort by modification time
  # If the command you want to execute in the pod has any flags in common (e.g. -i),
  # you must use two dashes (--) to separate your command's flags/arguments
  # Also note, do not surround your command and its flags/arguments with quotes
  # unless that is how you would execute it normally (i.e., do ls -t /usr, not "ls -t /usr")
  kubectl exec mypod -i -t -- ls -t /usr
  
  # Get output from running 'date' command from the first pod of the deployment mydeployment, using the first container by default
  kubectl exec deploy/mydeployment -- date
  
  # Get output from running 'date' command from the first pod of the service myservice, using the first container by default
  kubectl exec svc/myservice -- date
Options
| -c, --container string | |
| Container name. If omitted, use the kubectl.kubernetes.io/default-container annotation for selecting the container to be attached or the first container in the pod will be chosen | |
| -f, --filename strings | |
| to use to exec into the resource | |
| -h, --help | |
| help for exec | |
| --pod-running-timeout duration Default: 1m0s | |
| The length of time (like 5s, 2m, or 3h, higher than zero) to wait until at least one pod is running | |
| -q, --quiet | |
| Only print output from the remote session | |
| -i, --stdin | |
| Pass stdin to the container | |
| -t, --tty | |
| Stdin is a TTY | |
Parent Options Inherited
| --as string | |
| Username to impersonate for the operation. User could be a regular user or a service account in a namespace. | |
| --as-group strings | |
| Group to impersonate for the operation, this flag can be repeated to specify multiple groups. | |
| --as-uid string | |
| UID to impersonate for the operation. | |
| --cache-dir string Default: "$HOME/.kube/cache" | |
| Default cache directory | |
| --certificate-authority string | |
| Path to a cert file for the certificate authority | |
| --client-certificate string | |
| Path to a client certificate file for TLS | |
| --client-key string | |
| Path to a client key file for TLS | |
| --cluster string | |
| The name of the kubeconfig cluster to use | |
| --context string | |
| The name of the kubeconfig context to use | |
| --disable-compression | |
| If true, opt-out of response compression for all requests to the server | |
| --insecure-skip-tls-verify | |
| If true, the server's certificate will not be checked for validity. This will make your HTTPS connections insecure | |
| --kubeconfig string | |
| Path to the kubeconfig file to use for CLI requests. | |
| --kuberc string | |
| Path to the kuberc file to use for preferences. This can be disabled by exporting KUBECTL_KUBERC=false feature gate or turning off the feature KUBERC=off. | |
| --match-server-version | |
| Require server version to match client version | |
| -n, --namespace string | |
| If present, the namespace scope for this CLI request | |
| --password string | |
| Password for basic authentication to the API server | |
| --profile string Default: "none" | |
| Name of profile to capture. One of (none|cpu|heap|goroutine|threadcreate|block|mutex) | |
| --profile-output string Default: "profile.pprof" | |
| Name of the file to write the profile to | |
| --request-timeout string Default: "0" | |
| The length of time to wait before giving up on a single server request. Non-zero values should contain a corresponding time unit (e.g. 1s, 2m, 3h). A value of zero means don't timeout requests. | |
| -s, --server string | |
| The address and port of the Kubernetes API server | |
| --storage-driver-buffer-duration duration Default: 1m0s | |
| Writes in the storage driver will be buffered for this duration, and committed to the non memory backends as a single transaction | |
| --storage-driver-db string Default: "cadvisor" | |
| database name | |
| --storage-driver-host string Default: "localhost:8086" | |
| database host:port | |
| --storage-driver-password string Default: "root" | |
| database password | |
| --storage-driver-secure | |
| use secure connection with database | |
| --storage-driver-table string Default: "stats" | |
| table name | |
| --storage-driver-user string Default: "root" | |
| database username | |
| --tls-server-name string | |
| Server name to use for server certificate validation. If it is not provided, the hostname used to contact the server is used | |
| --token string | |
| Bearer token for authentication to the API server | |
| --user string | |
| The name of the kubeconfig user to use | |
| --username string | |
| Username for basic authentication to the API server | |
| --version version[=true] | |
| --version, --version=raw prints version information and quits; --version=vX.Y.Z... sets the reported version | |
| --warnings-as-errors | |
| Treat warnings received from the server as errors and exit with a non-zero exit code | |
See Also
- kubectl - kubectl controls the Kubernetes cluster manager