Use DescribeParameters with an AWS SDK or CLI - AWS SDK Code Examples

There are more AWS SDK examples available in the AWS Doc SDK Examples GitHub repo.

Use DescribeParameters with an AWS SDK or CLI

The following code examples show how to use DescribeParameters.

CLI
AWS CLI

Example 1: To list all parameters

The following describe-parameters example lists all parameters in the current AWS account and Region.

aws ssm describe-parameters

Output:

{
    "Parameters": [
        {
            "Name": "MySecureStringParameter",
            "Type": "SecureString",
            "KeyId": "alias/aws/ssm",
            "LastModifiedDate": 1582155479.205,
            "LastModifiedUser": "arn:aws:sts::111222333444:assumed-role/Admin/Richard-Roe-Managed",
            "Description": "This is a SecureString parameter",
            "Version": 2,
            "Tier": "Advanced",
            "Policies": [
                {
                    "PolicyText": "{\"Type\":\"Expiration\",\"Version\":\"1.0\",\"Attributes\":{\"Timestamp\":\"2020-07-07T22:30:00Z\"}}",
                    "PolicyType": "Expiration",
                    "PolicyStatus": "Pending"
                },
                {
                    "PolicyText": "{\"Type\":\"ExpirationNotification\",\"Version\":\"1.0\",\"Attributes\":{\"Before\":\"12\",\"Unit\":\"Hours\"}}",
                    "PolicyType": "ExpirationNotification",
                    "PolicyStatus": "Pending"
                }
            ]
        },
        {
            "Name": "MyStringListParameter",
            "Type": "StringList",
            "LastModifiedDate": 1582154764.222,
            "LastModifiedUser": "arn:aws:iam::111222333444:user/Mary-Major",
            "Description": "This is a StringList parameter",
            "Version": 1,
            "Tier": "Standard",
            "Policies": []
        },
        {
            "Name": "MyStringParameter",
            "Type": "String",
            "LastModifiedDate": 1582154711.976,
            "LastModifiedUser": "arn:aws:iam::111222333444:user/Alejandro-Rosalez",
            "Description": "This is a String parameter",
            "Version": 1,
            "Tier": "Standard",
            "Policies": []
        },
        {
            "Name": "latestAmi",
            "Type": "String",
            "LastModifiedDate": 1580862415.521,
            "LastModifiedUser": "arn:aws:sts::111222333444:assumed-role/lambda-ssm-role/Automation-UpdateSSM-Param",
            "Version": 3,
            "Tier": "Standard",
            "Policies": []
        }
    ]
}

Example 2: To list all parameters matching specific metadata

This describe-parameters example lists all parameters matching a filter.

aws ssm describe-parameters --filters "Key=Type,Values=StringList"

Output:

{
    "Parameters": [
        {
            "Name": "MyStringListParameter",
            "Type": "StringList",
            "LastModifiedDate": 1582154764.222,
            "LastModifiedUser": "arn:aws:iam::111222333444:user/Mary-Major",
            "Description": "This is a StringList parameter",
            "Version": 1,
            "Tier": "Standard",
            "Policies": []
        }
    ]
}

For more information, see Searching for Systems Manager Parameters in the AWS Systems Manager User Guide.

Java
SDK for Java 2.x
Note

There's more on GitHub. Find the complete example and learn how to set up and run in the AWS Code Examples Repository. 

import software.amazon.awssdk.regions.Region;
import software.amazon.awssdk.services.ssm.SsmClient;
import software.amazon.awssdk.services.ssm.model.GetParameterRequest;
import software.amazon.awssdk.services.ssm.model.GetParameterResponse;
import software.amazon.awssdk.services.ssm.model.SsmException;

/**
 * Before running this Java V2 code example, set up your development
 * environment, including your credentials.
 *
 * For more information, see the following documentation topic:
 *
 * https://docs.aws.amazon.com/sdk-for-java/latest/developer-guide/get-started.html
 */
public class GetParameter {
    public static void main(String[] args) {
        final String usage = """

                Usage:
                    <paraName>

                Where:
                    paraName - The name of the parameter.
                """;

        if (args.length != 1) {
            System.out.println(usage);
            System.exit(1);
        }

        String paraName = args[0];
        Region region = Region.US_EAST_1;
        SsmClient ssmClient = SsmClient.builder()
                .region(region)
                .build();

        getParaValue(ssmClient, paraName);
        ssmClient.close();
    }

    public static void getParaValue(SsmClient ssmClient, String paraName) {
        try {
            GetParameterRequest parameterRequest = GetParameterRequest.builder()
                    .name(paraName)
                    .build();

            GetParameterResponse parameterResponse = ssmClient.getParameter(parameterRequest);
            System.out.println("The parameter value is " + parameterResponse.parameter().value());

        } catch (SsmException e) {
            System.err.println(e.getMessage());
            System.exit(1);
        }
    }
}
PowerShell
Tools for PowerShell

Example 1: This example lists all parameters.

Get-SSMParameterList

Output:

Description      :
KeyId            :
LastModifiedDate : 3/3/2017 6:58:23 PM
LastModifiedUser : arn:aws:iam::123456789012:user/admin
Name             : Welcome
Type             : String
Rust
SDK for Rust
Note

There's more on GitHub. Find the complete example and learn how to set up and run in the AWS Code Examples Repository. 

async fn show_parameters(client: &Client) -> Result<(), Error> {
    let resp = client.describe_parameters().send().await?;

    for param in resp.parameters() {
        println!("  {}", param.name().unwrap_or_default());
    }

    Ok(())
}