---
name: "kubectl-exec"
section: "1"
platform: "linux"
package: "kubectl"
version: "1.37.2-1"
release: "Arch Linux 2026-11-01"
platforms: ["linux"]
url: "https://new.carta.tech/kubectl-exec"
---

# kubectl-exec(1)

Execute a command in a container

Eric Paris Jan 2015

## NAME

kubectl exec - Execute a command in a container

## SYNOPSIS

**kubectl exec** \[OPTIONS\]

## DESCRIPTION

Execute a command in a container.

## OPTIONS

**-c**, **--container**=""\
 	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**=\[\]\
 	to use to exec into the resource

**--pod-running-timeout**=1m0s\
 	The length of time (like 5s, 2m, or 3h, higher than zero) to wait until at least one pod is running

**-q**, **--quiet**=false\
 	Only print output from the remote session

**-i**, **--stdin**=false\
 	Pass stdin to the container

**-t**, **--tty**=false\
 	Stdin is a TTY

## OPTIONS INHERITED FROM PARENT COMMANDS

**--as**=""\
 	Username to impersonate for the operation. User could be a regular user or a service account in a namespace.

**--as-group**=\[\]\
 	Group to impersonate for the operation, this flag can be repeated to specify multiple groups.

**--as-uid**=""\
 	UID to impersonate for the operation.

**--as-user-extra**=\[\]\
 	User extras to impersonate for the operation, this flag can be repeated to specify multiple values for the same key.

**--cache-dir**="/home/username/.kube/cache"\
 	Default cache directory

**--certificate-authority**=""\
 	Path to a cert file for the certificate authority

**--client-certificate**=""\
 	Path to a client certificate file for TLS

**--client-key**=""\
 	Path to a client key file for TLS

**--cluster**=""\
 	The name of the kubeconfig cluster to use

**--context**=""\
 	The name of the kubeconfig context to use

**--disable-compression**=false\
 	If true, opt-out of response compression for all requests to the server

**--insecure-skip-tls-verify**=false\
 	If true, the server's certificate will not be checked for validity. This will make your HTTPS connections insecure

**--kubeconfig**=""\
 	Path to the kubeconfig file to use for CLI requests.

**--kuberc**=""\
 	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**=false\
 	Require server version to match client version

**-n**, **--namespace**=""\
 	If present, the namespace scope for this CLI request

**--password**=""\
 	Password for basic authentication to the API server

**--profile**="none"\
 	Name of profile to capture. One of (none\|cpu\|heap\|goroutine\|threadcreate\|block\|mutex\|trace)

**--profile-output**="profile.pprof"\
 	Name of the file to write the profile to

**--proxy-url**=""\
 	Proxy URL to use for requests to the API server

**--request-timeout**="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**=""\
 	The address and port of the Kubernetes API server

**--tls-server-name**=""\
 	Server name to use for server certificate validation. If it is not provided, the hostname used to contact the server is used

**--token**=""\
 	Bearer token for authentication to the API server

**--user**=""\
 	The name of the kubeconfig user to use

**--username**=""\
 	Username for basic authentication to the API server

**--version**=false\
 	\--version, --version=raw prints version information and quits; --version=vX.Y.Z... sets the reported version

**--warnings-as-errors**=false\
 	Treat warnings received from the server as errors and exit with a non-zero exit code

## EXAMPLE

```
  # 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
```

## SEE ALSO

**[kubectl(1)](/kubectl/1.md)**,

## HISTORY

January 2015, Originally compiled by Eric Paris (eparis at redhat dot com) based on the kubernetes source material, but hopefully they have been automatically generated since!