kubectl exec

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

Last modified September 04, 2025 at 3:30 PM PST: Update kubectl reference for v1.34 (bdc4bba2a5)