DOCKER(1) Docker User Manuals DOCKER(1)

# [NAME](#NAME)

docker-image-history - Show the history of an image

# [SYNOPSIS](#SYNOPSIS)

**docker image history \[OPTIONS] IMAGE**

# [DESCRIPTION](#DESCRIPTION)

Show the history of when and how an image was created.

# [EXAMPLES](#EXAMPLES)

```
$ docker history fedora
IMAGE          CREATED          CREATED BY                                      SIZE                COMMENT
105182bb5e8b   5 days ago       /bin/sh -c #(nop) ADD file:71356d2ad59aa3119d   372.7 MB
73bd853d2ea5   13 days ago      /bin/sh -c #(nop) MAINTAINER Lokesh Mandvekar   0 B
511136ea3c5a   10 months ago                                                    0 B                 Imported from -
```

# [Display comments in the image history](#Display_comments_in_the_image_history)

The **docker commit** command has a **-m** flag for adding comments to the image. These comments will be displayed in the image history.

```
$ sudo docker history docker:scm
IMAGE               CREATED             CREATED BY                                      SIZE                COMMENT
2ac9d1098bf1        3 months ago        /bin/bash                                       241.4 MB            Added Apache to Fedora base image
88b42ffd1f7c        5 months ago        /bin/sh -c #(nop) ADD file:1fd8d7f9f6557cafc7   373.7 MB            
c69cab00d6ef        5 months ago        /bin/sh -c #(nop) MAINTAINER Lokesh Mandvekar   0 B                 
511136ea3c5a        19 months ago                                                       0 B                 Imported from -
```

## [Format the output](#Format_the_output)

The formatting option (**--format**) will pretty-prints history output using a Go template.

Valid placeholders for the Go template are listed below:

**Placeholder** **Description** **.ID** Image ID **.CreatedSince** Elapsed time since the image was created if **--human=true**, otherwise timestamp of when image was created **.CreatedAt** Timestamp of when image was created **.CreatedBy** Command that was used to create the image **.Size** Image disk size **.Comment** Comment for image

When using the **--format** option, the **history** command will either output the data exactly as the template declares or, when using the **table** directive, will include column headers as well.

The following example uses a template without headers and outputs the **ID** and **CreatedSince** entries separated by a colon for all images:

```
$ docker images --format "{{.ID}}: {{.CreatedSince}} ago"
cc1b61406712: 2 weeks ago
<missing>: 2 weeks ago
<missing>: 2 weeks ago
<missing>: 2 weeks ago
<missing>: 2 weeks ago
<missing>: 3 weeks ago
<missing>: 3 weeks ago
<missing>: 3 weeks ago
```

# [OPTIONS](#OPTIONS)

**--format**="" Format output using a custom template: 'table': Print output in table format with column headers (default) 'table TEMPLATE': Print output in table format using the given Go template 'json': Print in JSON format 'TEMPLATE': Print output using the given Go template. Refer to https://docs.docker.com/go/formatting/ for more information about formatting output with templates

**-H**, **--human**\[=true] Print sizes and dates in human readable format

**--no-trunc**\[=false] Don't truncate output

**--platform**="" Show history for the given platform. Formatted as "os\[/arch\[/variant]]" (e.g., "linux/amd64")

**-q**, **--quiet**\[=false] Only show image IDs

# [SEE ALSO](#SEE_ALSO)

[**docker-image(1)**](/man/os/docker-cli/docker-image.1)

Oct 2026 Docker Community

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Document: docker-image-history(1) from docker-cli 29.9.1-r0 (Chainguard OS)
Source: https://github.com/docker/cli