Executing Commands

To run a command inside a running container, use kubectl exec. Everything after -- is the command to run:

kubectl exec web -- env

This prints the environment variables inside the web Pod's container, including HOSTNAME=web: a container's hostname is its Pod's name.

Any command that exists in the image works, for example listing a directory:

kubectl exec web -- ls /

This is the everyday way to look around inside a container without stopping it, like docker exec.

On a real cluster, kubectl exec -it web -- sh opens an interactive shell. This practice terminal has no terminal to attach, so run one command at a time instead.