docker build requires 1 argument See docker build --help

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Trying to follow the instructions for building a docker image from the docker website   https   docs docker com examples running redis service   this is the error I get will following the instructions on the doc and using this Dockerfile  FROM        ubuntu 14 04 RUN         apt-get update  amp  amp  apt-get install -y redis-server EXPOSE      6379 ENTRYPOINT     usr bin redis-server     sudo docker build -t myrepo redis docker   build  requires 1 argument  See  docker build --help     How do  resolve

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From the command run  sudo docker build -t myrepo redis  there are no  quot arguments quot  passed to the docker build command  only a single flag -t and a value for that flag  After docker parses all of the flags for the command  there should be one argument left when you re running a build  That argument is the build context  The standard command includes a trailing dot for the context  sudo docker build -t myrepo redis    What s the build context  Every docker build sends a directory to the build server  Docker is a client server application  and the build runs on the server which isn t necessarily where the docker command is run  Docker uses the build context as the source for files used in COPY and ADD steps  When you are in the current directory to run the build  you would pass a   for the context  aka the current directory  You could pass a completely different directory  even a git repo  and docker will perform the build using that as the context  e g   docker build -t sudobmitch base alpine --target alpine-base      https   github com sudo-bmitch docker-base git main   For more details on these options to the build command  see the docker build documentation  What if you included an argument  If you are including the value for the build context  typically the    and still see this error message  you have likely passed more than one argument  Typically this is from failing to parse a flag  or passing a string with spaces without quotes  Possible causes for docker to see more than one argument include   Missing quotes around a path or argument with spaces  take note using variables that may have spaces in them   Incorrect dashes in the command  make sure to type these manually rather than copy and pasting  Incorrect quotes  smart quotes don t work on the command line  type them manually rather than copy and pasting   Whitespace that isn t white space  or that doesn t appear to be a space    Most all of these come from either a typo or copy and pasting from a source that modified the text to look pretty  breaking it for using as a command  How do you figure out where the CLI error is  The easiest way I have to debug this  run the command without any other flags  docker build    Once that works  add flags back in until you get the error  and then you ll know what flag is broken and needs the quotes to be fixed added or dashes corrected  etc

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My problem was the Dockerfile txt needed to be converted to a Unix executable file  Once I did that that error went away   You may need to remove the  txt portion before doing this  but on a mac go to terminal and cd into the directory where your Dockerfile is and the type  chmod  x  Dockerfile    And then it will convert your file to a Unix executable file which can then be executed by the Docker build command

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You need to add a dot  which means to use the Dockerfile in the local directory  For example  docker build -t mytag   It means you use the Dockerfile in the local directory  and if you use docker 1 5 you can specify a Dockerfile elsewhere  Extract from the help output from docker build  -f  --file  quot  quot         Name of the Dockerfile Default is  Dockerfile  at context root

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On older versions of Docker it seems you need to use this order   docker build -t tag    and not  docker build   -t tag

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You Need a DOT at the end       So for example      docker build -t  lt your username gt  node-web-app     It s a bit hidden  but if you pay attention to the   at the end

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Open PowerShelland and follow these istruction   This type of error is tipically in Windows S O  When you use command build need an option and a path   There is this type of error becouse you have not specified a path whit your Dockerfile   Try this   C  Users Daniele app gt  docker build -t friendlyhello C  Users Daniele app     friendlyhello is the name who you assign to your conteiner C  Users Daniele app   is the path who conteins your Dockerfile   if you want to add a tag  C  Users Daniele app gt  docker build -t friendlyhello 3 0 C  Users Daniele app

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Docker Build Command Format   In your powershell   There is this type of error because you have not specified a path whith your Dockerfile   Try this     docker build -t friendlyhello latest -f C   TestDockerApp  Dockerfile txt   friendlyhello is the name you assign to your container and add the version   just use the  latest  -f C  TestDockerApp Dockerfile txt  - you want to add a tag because the build command needs a parameter or tag - The DockerFile is a text document so explicitly add the extension  txt    Try this format        docker build -t friendlyhello latest -f C   TestDockerApp  Dockerfile txt

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Did you copy the build command from somewhere else  webpage or some other file   Try typing it in from scratch   I copied a build command from an AWS tutorial and pasted it into my terminal and was getting this error  It was driving me crazy  After typing it in by hand  it worked  Looking closer and my previous failed commands  I noticed the  dash  character was different  it was a thinner  longer dash character than I got if I typed it myself using the  minus dash  key   Bad      sudo docker build    t foo     Good      sudo docker build -t foo     Can you see the difference    Cut and paste is hard

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Use the following command  docker build -t mytag     Note that mytag and dot has a space between them   This dot represents the present working directory

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The following command worked for me  Docker file was placed in my-app-master folder   docker build -f my-app-master Dockerfile -t my-app-master

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You can build docker image from a file called docker file and named Dockerfile by default  It has set of command instruction that you need in your docker container  Below command creates image with tag latest  Dockerfile should present on that location    means present direcotry   docker build   -t  lt image name gt  latest   You can specify the Dockerfile via -f if the file name in not default  Dockerfile  Sameple Docker file contents   FROM busybox RUN echo  hello world

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In my case this error was happening in a Gitlab CI pipeline when I was passing multiple Gitlab env variables to docker build with --build-arg flags   Turns out that one of the variables had a space in it which was causing the error  It was difficult to find since the pipeline logs just showed the  VARIABLE NAME   Make sure to quote the environment variables so that spaces get handled correctly   Change from   --build-arg VARIABLE NAME  VARIABLE NAME   to   --build-arg VARIABLE NAME   VARIABLE NAME

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In case anyone is running into this problem when trying to tag -t the image and also build it from a file that is NOT named Dockerfile  i e  not using simply the   path   you can do it like this   docker build -t my image -f my dockerfile    Notice that docker expects a directory as the parameter and the filename as an option

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Just provide dot     at the end of command including one space    example    command  docker build -t  blink v1     Here you can see  blink v1  then a space then dot      Thats it

[docker] docker: "build" requires 1 argument. See 'docker build --help'

What's the build context?

What if you included an argument?

How do you figure out where the CLI error is?

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