Filtering output in the AWS CLI - AWS Command Line Interface
Server-side filteringClient-side filteringCombining server-side and client-side filteringAdditional resources

This documentation is for Version 1 of the AWS CLI only. For documentation related to Version 2 of the AWS CLI, see the Version 2 User Guide.

Filtering output in the AWS CLI

The AWS Command Line Interface (AWS CLI) has both server-side and client-side filtering that you can use individually or together to filter your AWS CLI output. Server-side filtering is processed first and returns your output for client-side filtering.

  • Server-side filtering is supported by the API, and you usually implement it with a --filter parameter. The service only returns matching results which can speed up HTTP response times for large data sets.

  • Client-side filtering is supported by the AWS CLI client using the --query parameter. This parameter has capabilities the server-side filtering might not have.

Server-side filtering

Server-side filtering in the AWS CLI is provided by the AWS service API. The AWS service only returns the records in the HTTP response that match your filter, which can speed up HTTP response times for large data sets. Since server-side filtering is defined by the service API, the parameter names and functions vary between services. Some common parameter names used for filtering are:

For information about whether a specific command has server-side filtering and the filtering rules, see the AWS CLI reference guide.

Client-side filtering

The AWS CLI provides built-in JSON-based client-side filtering capabilities with the --query parameter. The --query parameter is a powerful tool you can use to customize the content and style of your output. The --query parameter takes the HTTP response that comes back from the server and filters the results before displaying them. Since the entire HTTP response is sent to the client before filtering, client-side filtering can be slower than server-side filtering for large data-sets.

Querying uses JMESPath syntax to create expressions for filtering your output. To learn JMESPath syntax, see Tutorial on the JMESPath website.

Important

The output type you specify changes how the --query option operates:

  • If you specify --output text, the output is paginated before the --query filter is applied, and the AWS CLI runs the query once on each page of the output. Due to this, the query includes the first matching element on each page which can result in unexpected extra output. To additionally filter the output, you can use other command line tools such as head or tail.

  • If you specify --output json, the output is completely processed as a single, native structure before the --query filter is applied. The AWS CLI runs the query only once against the entire structure, producing a filtered result that is then output.

Before you start

When using filter expressions used in these examples, be sure to use the correct quoting rules for your terminal shell. For more information, see Using quotation marks and literals with strings in the AWS CLI.

The following JSON output shows an example of what the --query parameter can produce. The output describes three Amazon EBS volumes attached to separate Amazon EC2 instances.

$ aws ec2 describe-volumes
{
  "Volumes": [
    {
      "AvailabilityZone": "us-west-2a",
      "Attachments": [
        {
          "AttachTime": "2013-09-17T00:55:03.000Z",
          "InstanceId": "i-a071c394",
          "VolumeId": "vol-e11a5288",
          "State": "attached",
          "DeleteOnTermination": true,
          "Device": "/dev/sda1"
        }
      ],
      "VolumeType": "standard",
      "VolumeId": "vol-e11a5288",
      "State": "in-use",
      "SnapshotId": "snap-f23ec1c8",
      "CreateTime": "2013-09-17T00:55:03.000Z",
      "Size": 30
    },
    {
      "AvailabilityZone": "us-west-2a",
      "Attachments": [
        {
          "AttachTime": "2013-09-18T20:26:16.000Z",
          "InstanceId": "i-4b41a37c",
          "VolumeId": "vol-2e410a47",
          "State": "attached",
          "DeleteOnTermination": true,
          "Device": "/dev/sda1"
        }
      ],
      "VolumeType": "standard",
      "VolumeId": "vol-2e410a47",
      "State": "in-use",
      "SnapshotId": "snap-708e8348",
      "CreateTime": "2013-09-18T20:26:15.000Z",
      "Size": 8
    },
    {
      "AvailabilityZone": "us-west-2a",
      "Attachments": [
        {
          "AttachTime": "2020-11-20T19:54:06.000Z",
          "InstanceId": "i-1jd73kv8",
          "VolumeId": "vol-a1b3c7nd",
          "State": "attached",
          "DeleteOnTermination": true,
          "Device": "/dev/sda1"
        }
      ],
      "VolumeType": "standard",
      "VolumeId": "vol-a1b3c7nd",
      "State": "in-use",
      "SnapshotId": "snap-234087fb",
      "CreateTime": "2020-11-20T19:54:05.000Z",
      "Size": 15
    }
  ]
}

Identifiers

Identifier are the labels for output values. When creating filters, you use identifiers to narrow down your query results. In the following output example, all identifiers such as Volumes, AvailabilityZone, and AttachTime are highlighted. 

$ aws ec2 describe-volumes
{
  "Volumes": [
    {
      "AvailabilityZone": "us-west-2a",
      "Attachments": [
        {
          "AttachTime": "2013-09-17T00:55:03.000Z",
          "InstanceId": "i-a071c394",
          "VolumeId": "vol-e11a5288",
          "State": "attached",
          "DeleteOnTermination": true,
          "Device": "/dev/sda1"
        }
      ],
      "VolumeType": "standard",
      "VolumeId": "vol-e11a5288",
      "State": "in-use",
      "SnapshotId": "snap-f23ec1c8",
      "CreateTime": "2013-09-17T00:55:03.000Z",
      "Size": 30
    },
    {
      "AvailabilityZone": "us-west-2a",
      "Attachments": [
        {
          "AttachTime": "2013-09-18T20:26:16.000Z",
          "InstanceId": "i-4b41a37c",
          "VolumeId": "vol-2e410a47",
          "State": "attached",
          "DeleteOnTermination": true,
          "Device": "/dev/sda1"
        }
      ],
      "VolumeType": "standard",
      "VolumeId": "vol-2e410a47",
      "State": "in-use",
      "SnapshotId": "snap-708e8348",
      "CreateTime": "2013-09-18T20:26:15.000Z",
      "Size": 8
    },
    {
      "AvailabilityZone": "us-west-2a",
      "Attachments": [
        {
          "AttachTime": "2020-11-20T19:54:06.000Z",
          "InstanceId": "i-1jd73kv8",
          "VolumeId": "vol-a1b3c7nd",
          "State": "attached",
          "DeleteOnTermination": true,
          "Device": "/dev/sda1"
        }
      ],
      "VolumeType": "standard",
      "VolumeId": "vol-a1b3c7nd",
      "State": "in-use",
      "SnapshotId": "snap-234087fb",
      "CreateTime": "2020-11-20T19:54:05.000Z",
      "Size": 15
    }
  ]
}

For more information, see Identifiers on the JMESPath website.

Selecting from a list

A list or array is an identifier that is followed by a square bracket "[" such as Volumes and Attachments in the Before you start.

Syntax

<listName>[ ]

To filter through all output from an array, you can use the wildcard notation. Wildcard expressions are expressions used to return elements using the * notation.

The following example queries all Volumes content.

$ aws ec2 describe-volumes \
    --query 'Volumes[*]'
[
  {
    "AvailabilityZone": "us-west-2a",
    "Attachments": [
      {
        "AttachTime": "2013-09-17T00:55:03.000Z",
        "InstanceId": "i-a071c394",
        "VolumeId": "vol-e11a5288",
        "State": "attached",
        "DeleteOnTermination": true,
        "Device": "/dev/sda1"
      }
    ],
    "VolumeType": "standard",
    "VolumeId": "vol-e11a5288",
    "State": "in-use",
    "SnapshotId": "snap-f23ec1c8",
    "CreateTime": "2013-09-17T00:55:03.000Z",
    "Size": 30
  },
  {
    "AvailabilityZone": "us-west-2a",
    "Attachments": [
      {
        "AttachTime": "2020-11-20T19:54:06.000Z",
        "InstanceId": "i-1jd73kv8",
        "VolumeId": "vol-a1b3c7nd",
        "State": "attached",
        "DeleteOnTermination": true,
        "Device": "/dev/sda1"
      }
    ],
    "VolumeType": "standard",
    "VolumeId": "vol-a1b3c7nd",
    "State": "in-use",
    "SnapshotId": "snap-234087fb",
    "CreateTime": "2020-11-20T19:54:05.000Z",
    "Size": 15
  }
]

To view a specific volume in the array by index, you call the array index. For example, the first item in the Volumes array has an index of 0, resulting in the Volumes[0] query. For more information about array indexes, see index expressions on the JMESPath website.

$ aws ec2 describe-volumes \
    --query 'Volumes[0]'
{
  "AvailabilityZone": "us-west-2a",
  "Attachments": [
    {
      "AttachTime": "2013-09-17T00:55:03.000Z",
      "InstanceId": "i-a071c394",
      "VolumeId": "vol-e11a5288",
      "State": "attached",
      "DeleteOnTermination": true,
      "Device": "/dev/sda1"
    }
  ],
  "VolumeType": "standard",
  "VolumeId": "vol-e11a5288",
  "State": "in-use",
  "SnapshotId": "snap-f23ec1c8",
  "CreateTime": "2013-09-17T00:55:03.000Z",
  "Size": 30
}

To view a specific range of volumes by index, use slice with the following syntax, where start is the starting array index, stop is the index where the filter stops processing, and step is the skip interval.

Syntax

<arrayName>[<start>:<stop>:<step>]

If any of these are omitted from the slice expression, they use the following default values:

  • Start – The first index in the list, 0.

  • Stop – The last index in the list.

  • Step – No step skipping, where the value is 1.

To return only the first two volumes, you use a start value of 0, a stop value of 2, and a step value of 1 as shown in the following example.

$ aws ec2 describe-volumes \
    --query 'Volumes[0:2:1]'
[
  {
    "AvailabilityZone": "us-west-2a",
    "Attachments": [
      {
        "AttachTime": "2013-09-17T00:55:03.000Z",
        "InstanceId": "i-a071c394",
        "VolumeId": "vol-e11a5288",
        "State": "attached",
        "DeleteOnTermination": true,
        "Device": "/dev/sda1"
      }
    ],
    "VolumeType": "standard",
    "VolumeId": "vol-e11a5288",
    "State": "in-use",
    "SnapshotId": "snap-f23ec1c8",
    "CreateTime": "2013-09-17T00:55:03.000Z",
    "Size": 30
  },
  {
    "AvailabilityZone": "us-west-2a",
    "Attachments": [
      {
        "AttachTime": "2013-09-18T20:26:16.000Z",
        "InstanceId": "i-4b41a37c",
        "VolumeId": "vol-2e410a47",
        "State": "attached",
        "DeleteOnTermination": true,
        "Device": "/dev/sda1"
      }
    ],
    "VolumeType": "standard",
    "VolumeId": "vol-2e410a47",
    "State": "in-use",
    "SnapshotId": "snap-708e8348",
    "CreateTime": "2013-09-18T20:26:15.000Z",
    "Size": 8
  }
]

Since this example contains default values, you can shorten the slice from Volumes[0:2:1] to Volumes[:2].

The following example omits default values and returns every two volumes in the entire array.

$ aws ec2 describe-volumes \
    --query 'Volumes[::2]'
[
  {
    "AvailabilityZone": "us-west-2a",
    "Attachments": [
      {
        "AttachTime": "2013-09-17T00:55:03.000Z",
        "InstanceId": "i-a071c394",
        "VolumeId": "vol-e11a5288",
        "State": "attached",
        "DeleteOnTermination": true,
        "Device": "/dev/sda1"
      }
    ],
    "VolumeType": "standard",
    "VolumeId": "vol-e11a5288",
    "State": "in-use",
    "SnapshotId": "snap-f23ec1c8",
    "CreateTime": "2013-09-17T00:55:03.000Z",
    "Size": 30
  },
  {
    "AvailabilityZone": "us-west-2a",
    "Attachments": [
      {
        "AttachTime": "2020-11-20T19:54:06.000Z",
        "InstanceId": "i-1jd73kv8",
        "VolumeId": "vol-a1b3c7nd",
        "State": "attached",
        "DeleteOnTermination": true,
        "Device": "/dev/sda1"
      }
    ],
    "VolumeType": "standard",
    "VolumeId": "vol-a1b3c7nd",
    "State": "in-use",
    "SnapshotId": "snap-234087fb",
    "CreateTime": "2020-11-20T19:54:05.000Z",
    "Size": 15
  }
]

Steps can also use negative numbers to filter in the reverse order of an array as shown in the following example. 

$ aws ec2 describe-volumes \
    --query 'Volumes[::-2]'
[
  {
    "AvailabilityZone": "us-west-2a",
    "Attachments": [
      {
        "AttachTime": "2020-11-20T19:54:06.000Z",
        "InstanceId": "i-1jd73kv8",
        "VolumeId": "vol-a1b3c7nd",
        "State": "attached",
        "DeleteOnTermination": true,
        "Device": "/dev/sda1"
      }
    ],
    "VolumeType": "standard",
    "VolumeId": "vol-a1b3c7nd",
    "State": "in-use",
    "SnapshotId": "snap-234087fb",
    "CreateTime": "2020-11-20T19:54:05.000Z",
    "Size": 15
  },
  {
    "AvailabilityZone": "us-west-2a",
    "Attachments": [
      {
        "AttachTime": "2013-09-17T00:55:03.000Z",
        "InstanceId": "i-a071c394",
        "VolumeId": "vol-e11a5288",
        "State": "attached",
        "DeleteOnTermination": true,
        "Device": "/dev/sda1"
      }
    ],
    "VolumeType": "standard",
    "VolumeId": "vol-e11a5288",
    "State": "in-use",
    "SnapshotId": "snap-f23ec1c8",
    "CreateTime": "2013-09-17T00:55:03.000Z",
    "Size": 30
  }
]

For more information, see Slices on the JMESPath website.

Filtering nested data

To narrow the filtering of the Volumes[*] for nested values, you use subexpressions by appending a period and your filter criteria.

Syntax

<expression>.<expression>

The following example shows all Attachments information for all volumes.

$ aws ec2 describe-volumes \
    --query 'Volumes[*].Attachments'
[
  [
    {
      "AttachTime": "2013-09-17T00:55:03.000Z",
      "InstanceId": "i-a071c394",
      "VolumeId": "vol-e11a5288",
      "State": "attached",
      "DeleteOnTermination": true,
      "Device": "/dev/sda1"
    }
  ],
  [
    {
      "AttachTime": "2013-09-18T20:26:16.000Z",
      "InstanceId": "i-4b41a37c",
      "VolumeId": "vol-2e410a47",
      "State": "attached",
      "DeleteOnTermination": true,
      "Device": "/dev/sda1"
    }
  ],
  [
    {
      "AttachTime": "2020-11-20T19:54:06.000Z",
      "InstanceId": "i-1jd73kv8",
      "VolumeId": "vol-a1b3c7nd",
      "State": "attached",
      "DeleteOnTermination": true,
      "Device": "/dev/sda1"
    }
  ]
]

To filter further into the nested values, append the expression for each nested indentifier. The following example lists the State for all Volumes.

$ aws ec2 describe-volumes \
    --query 'Volumes[*].Attachments[*].State'
[
  [
    "attached"
  ],
  [
    "attached"
  ],
  [
    "attached"
  ]
]

Flattening results

For more information, see SubExpressions on the JMESPath website.

You can flatten the results for Volumes[*].Attachments[*].State by removing the wildcard notation resulting in the Volumes[*].Attachments[].State query. Flattening often is useful to improve the readablity of results.

$ aws ec2 describe-volumes \
    --query 'Volumes[*].Attachments[].State'
[
  "attached",
  "attached",
  "attached"
]

For more information, see Flatten on the JMESPath website.

Filtering for specific values

To filter for specific values in a list, you use a filter expression as shown in the following syntax.

Syntax

? <expression> <comparator> <expression>]

Expression comparators include ==, !=, <, <=, >, and >= . The following example filters for the VolumeIds for all Volumes in an AttachedState.

$ aws ec2 describe-volumes \
    --query 'Volumes[*].Attachments[?State==`attached`].VolumeId'
[
  [
    "vol-e11a5288"
  ],
  [
    "vol-2e410a47"
  ],
  [
    "vol-a1b3c7nd"
  ]
]

This can then be flattened resulting in the following example.

$ aws ec2 describe-volumes \
    --query 'Volumes[*].Attachments[?State==`attached`].VolumeId[]'
[
  "vol-e11a5288",
  "vol-2e410a47",
  "vol-a1b3c7nd"
]

The following example filters for the VolumeIds of all Volumes that have a size less than 20.

$ aws ec2 describe-volumes \
    --query 'Volumes[?Size < `20`].VolumeId'
[
  "vol-2e410a47",
  "vol-a1b3c7nd"
]

For more information, see Filter Expressions on the JMESPath website.

Piping expressions

You can pipe results of a filter to a new list, and then filter the result with another expression using the following syntax:

Syntax

<expression> | <expression>]

The following example takes the filter results of the Volumes[*].Attachments[].InstanceId expression and outputs the first result in the array. 

$ aws ec2 describe-volumes \
    --query 'Volumes[*].Attachments[].InstanceId | [0]'
"i-a071c394"

This example does this by first creating the array from the following expression.

$ aws ec2 describe-volumes \
    --query 'Volumes[*].Attachments[].InstanceId'
"i-a071c394",
  "i-4b41a37c",
  "i-1jd73kv8"

And then returns the first element in that array.

"i-a071c394"

For more information, see Pipe Expressions on the JMESPath website.

Filtering for multiple identifier values

To filter for multiple identifiers, you use a multiselect list by using the following syntax:

Syntax

<listName>[].[<expression>, <expression>]

In the following example, VolumeId and VolumeType are filtered in the Volumes list resulting in the following expression.

$ aws ec2 describe-volumes \
    --query 'Volumes[].[VolumeId, VolumeType]'
[
  [
    "vol-e11a5288",
    "standard"
  ],
  [
    "vol-2e410a47",
    "standard"
  ],
  [
    "vol-a1b3c7nd",
    "standard"
  ]
]

To add nested data to the list, you add another multiselect list. The following example expands on the previous example by also filtering for InstanceId and State in the nested Attachments list. This results in the following expression.

$ aws ec2 describe-volumes \
    --query 'Volumes[].[VolumeId, VolumeType, Attachments[].[InstanceId, State]]'
[
  [
    "vol-e11a5288",
    "standard",
    [
      [
        "i-a071c394",
        "attached"
      ]
    ]
  ],
  [
    "vol-2e410a47",
    "standard",
    [
      [
        "i-4b41a37c",
        "attached"
      ]
    ]
  ],
  [
    "vol-a1b3c7nd",
    "standard",
    [
      [
        "i-1jd73kv8",
        "attached"
      ]
    ]
  ]
]

To be more readable, flatten out the expression as shown in the following example.

$ aws ec2 describe-volumes \
    --query 'Volumes[].[VolumeId, VolumeType, Attachments[].[InstanceId, State][]][]'
[
  "vol-e11a5288",
  "standard",
  [
    "i-a071c394",
    "attached"
  ],
  "vol-2e410a47",
  "standard",
  [
    "i-4b41a37c",
    "attached"
  ],
  "vol-a1b3c7nd",
  "standard",
  [
    "i-1jd73kv8",
    "attached"
  ]
]

For more information, see Multiselect list on the JMESPath website.

Adding labels to identifier values

To make this output easier to read, use a multiselect hash with the following syntax.

Syntax

<listName>[].{<label>: <expression>, <label>: <expression>}

Your identifier label does not need to be the same as the name of the identifier. The following example uses the label VolumeType for the VolumeType values.

$ aws ec2 describe-volumes \
    --query 'Volumes[].{VolumeType: VolumeType}'
[
  {
    "VolumeType": "standard",
  },
  {
    "VolumeType": "standard",
  },
  {
    "VolumeType": "standard",
  }
]

For simplicity, the following example keeps the identifier names for each label and displays the VolumeId, VolumeType, InstanceId, and State for all volumes:

$ aws ec2 describe-volumes \
    --query 'Volumes[].{VolumeId: VolumeId, VolumeType: VolumeType, InstanceId: Attachments[0].InstanceId, State: Attachments[0].State}'
[
  {
    "VolumeId": "vol-e11a5288",
    "VolumeType": "standard",
    "InstanceId": "i-a071c394",
    "State": "attached"
  },
  {
    "VolumeId": "vol-2e410a47",
    "VolumeType": "standard",
    "InstanceId": "i-4b41a37c",
    "State": "attached"
  },
  {
    "VolumeId": "vol-a1b3c7nd",
    "VolumeType": "standard",
    "InstanceId": "i-1jd73kv8",
    "State": "attached"
  }
]

For more information, see Multiselect hash on the JMESPath website.

Functions

The JMESPath syntax contains many functions that you can use for your queries. For information on JMESPath functions, see Built-in Functions on the JMESPath website.

To demonstrate how you can incorporate a function into your queries, the following example uses the sort_by function. The sort_by function sorts an array using an expression as the sort key using the following syntax:

Syntax

sort_by(<listName>, <sort expression>)[].<expression>

The following example uses the previous multiselect hash example and sorts the output by VolumeId. 

$ aws ec2 describe-volumes \
    --query 'sort_by(Volumes, &VolumeId)[].{VolumeId: VolumeId, VolumeType: VolumeType, InstanceId: Attachments[0].InstanceId, State: Attachments[0].State}'
[
  {
    "VolumeId": "vol-2e410a47",
    "VolumeType": "standard",
    "InstanceId": "i-4b41a37c",
    "State": "attached"
  },
  {
    "VolumeId": "vol-a1b3c7nd",
    "VolumeType": "standard",
    "InstanceId": "i-1jd73kv8",
    "State": "attached"
  },
  {
    "VolumeId": "vol-e11a5288",
    "VolumeType": "standard",
    "InstanceId": "i-a071c394",
    "State": "attached"
  }
]

For more information, see sort_by on the JMESPath website.

Advanced --query examples

To extract information from a specific item

The following example uses the --query parameter to find a specific item in a list and then extracts information from that item. The example lists all of the AvailabilityZones associated with the specified service endpoint. It extracts the item from the ServiceDetails list that has the specified ServiceName, then outputs the AvailabilityZones field from that selected item. 

$ aws --region us-east-1 ec2 describe-vpc-endpoint-services \
    --query 'ServiceDetails[?ServiceName==`com.amazonaws.us-east-1.ecs`].AvailabilityZones'
[
    [
        "us-east-1a",
        "us-east-1b",
        "us-east-1c",
        "us-east-1d",
        "us-east-1e",
        "us-east-1f"
    ]
]

To show snapshots after the specified creation date

The following example shows how to list all of your snapshots that were created after a specified date, including only a few of the available fields in the output.

$ aws ec2 describe-snapshots --owner self \
    --output json \
    --query 'Snapshots[?StartTime>=`2018-02-07`].{Id:SnapshotId,VId:VolumeId,Size:VolumeSize}'
[
    {
        "id": "snap-0effb42b7a1b2c3d4",
        "vid": "vol-0be9bb0bf12345678",
        "Size": 8
    }
]

To show the most recent AMIs

The following example lists the five most recent Amazon Machine Images (AMIs) that you created, sorted from most recent to oldest.

$ aws ec2 describe-images \
    --owners self \
    --query 'reverse(sort_by(Images,&CreationDate))[:5].{id:ImageId,date:CreationDate}'
[
    {
        "id": "ami-0a1b2c3d4e5f60001",
        "date": "2018-11-28T17:16:38.000Z"
    },
    {
        "id": "ami-0a1b2c3d4e5f60002",
        "date": "2018-09-15T13:51:22.000Z"
    },
    {
        "id": "ami-0a1b2c3d4e5f60003",
        "date": "2018-08-19T10:22:45.000Z"
    },
    {
        "id": "ami-0a1b2c3d4e5f60004",
        "date": "2018-05-03T12:04:02.000Z"
    },
    {
        "id": "ami-0a1b2c3d4e5f60005",
        "date": "2017-12-13T17:16:38.000Z"
    }
]

To show unhealthy Auto Scaling instances

The following example shows only the InstanceId for any unhealthy instances in the specified Auto Scaling group.

$ aws autoscaling describe-auto-scaling-groups \
    --auto-scaling-group-name My-AutoScaling-Group-Name \
    --output text \
    --query 'AutoScalingGroups[*].Instances[?HealthStatus==`Unhealthy`].InstanceId'

To include volumes with the specified tag

The following example describes all instances with a test tag. As long as there is another tag beside test attached to the volume, the volume is still returned in the results.

The below expression to return all tags with the test tag in an array. Any tags that are not the test tag contain a null value.

$ aws ec2 describe-volumes \
    --query 'Volumes[*].Tags[?Value == `test`]'

To exclude volumes with the specified tag

The following example describes all instances without a test tag. Using a simple ?Value != `test` expression does not work for excluding a volume as volumes can have multiple tags. As long as there is another tag beside test attached to the volume, the volume is still returned in the results.

To exclude all volumes with the test tag, start with the below expression to return all tags with the test tag in an array. Any tags that are not the test tag contain a null value.

$ aws ec2 describe-volumes \
    --query 'Volumes[*].Tags[?Value == `test`]'

Then filter out all the positive test results using the not_null function. 

$ aws ec2 describe-volumes \
    --query 'Volumes[?!not_null(Tags[?Value == `test`].Value)]'

Pipe the results to flatten out the results resulting in the following query.

$ aws ec2 describe-volumes \
    --query 'Volumes[?!not_null(Tags[?Value == `test`].Value)] | []'

Combining server-side and client-side filtering

You can use server-side and client-side filtering together. Server-side filtering is completed first, which sends the data to the client that the --query parameter then filters. If you're using large data sets, using server-side filtering first can lower the amount of data sent to the client for each AWS CLI call, while still keeping the powerful customization that client-side filtering provides.

The following example lists Amazon EC2 volumes using both server-side and client-side filtering. The service filters a list of all attached volumes in the us-west-2a Availability Zone. The --query parameter further limits the output to only those volumes with a Size value that is larger than 50, and shows only the specified fields with user-defined names.

$ aws ec2 describe-volumes \
    --filters "Name=availability-zone,Values=us-west-2a" "Name=status,Values=attached" \
    --query 'Volumes[?Size > `50`].{Id:VolumeId,Size:Size,Type:VolumeType}'
[
    {
        "Id": "vol-0be9bb0bf12345678",
        "Size": 80,
        "VolumeType": "gp2"
    }
]

The following example retrieves a list of images that meet several criteria. It then uses the --query parameter to sort the output by CreationDate, selecting only the most recent. Finally, it displays the ImageId of that one image.

$ aws ec2 describe-images \
    --owners amazon \
    --filters "Name=name,Values=amzn*gp2" "Name=virtualization-type,Values=hvm" "Name=root-device-type,Values=ebs" \
    --query "sort_by(Images, &CreationDate)[-1].ImageId" \
    --output text
ami-00ced3122871a4921

The following example displays the number of available volumes that are more than 1000 IOPS by using length to count how many are in a list.

$ aws ec2 describe-volumes \
    --filters "Name=status,Values=available" \
    --query 'length(Volumes[?Iops > `1000`])'
3

Additional resources

JMESPath Terminal

JMESPath Terminal is an interactive terminal command to experiment with JMESPath expressions that are used for client-side filtering. Using the jpterm command, the terminal shows immediate query results as you're typing. You can directly pipe AWS CLI output to the terminal, enabling advanced querying experimentation.

The following example pipes aws ec2 describe-volumes output directly to JMESPath Terminal.

$ aws ec2 describe-volumes | jpterm

For more information on JMESPath Terminal and installation instructions, see JMESPath Terminal on GitHub.

jq utility

The jq utility provides you a way to transform your output on the client-side to an output format you desire. For more information on jq and installation instructions, see jq on GitHub.