What command is used to stop a running Docker container?

The command used to stop a running Docker container is "docker stop [container_id]." This command sends a SIGTERM signal to the main process running in the container, allowing it time to shut down gracefully. If the process does not terminate within a specified timeout period, Docker will then send a SIGKILL signal to forcibly stop the container. This makes "docker stop" the preferred command for safely shutting down a container, as it ensures that any cleanup operations can be performed before the container is terminated.

In contrast, other commands like "docker kill" immediately stop a container without giving it a chance to perform graceful shutdown procedures, which may lead to data loss or corruption if the application has not been designed to handle sudden termination. The "docker halt" and "docker terminate" commands are not valid Docker commands, so they do not support container management in this context.