Using --query to select tag by value not tab delimitated

[catofclysm]

Previously when I used --query to select a specific tag value by key it's text output was tab delimitated. After updating to the latest aws-cli (from 1.3.1 to 1.3.7) the tag value is now added after other values and on it's own line. For example:

aws ec2 describe-instances --query 'Reservations[].Instances[].[InstanceId, Tags[?Key==Name].Value, State.Name]' --output text

The output of such is
InstanceID State
TagValue

Whereas before it would show
InstanceId TagValue State

[jamesls]

Looking... I'm guessing it's related to the bug fix for #751 reported here: https://forums.aws.amazon.com/thread.jspa?messageID=534743#534743

[jamesls]

When I installed v1.3.1 and tried the query above I get the same output as shown in the bug linked in #751. The second value is a list value instead of just the value of the tag:

$ aws --version
aws-cli/1.3.1 Python/2.7.5 Darwin/12.5.0
$ aws ec2 describe-instances --query 'Reservations[].Instances[].[InstanceId, Tags[?Key==`Name`].Value, State.Name]' --output text

i-123   ['Name1']   running
i-123   ['Name2']   running
i-123   ['Name3']   stopped
i-123   ['Name4']   stopped

Is that the same output you were previously seeing?

The reason this is now happening with the latest release is that list values are now written out on their own separate line. The JSON values from the above query looks like:

[
    [
        "i-123",
        [
            "Name1"
        ],
        "running"
    ],
    [
        "i-123",
        [
            "Name2"
        ],
        "running"
    ]
]

In order to get them all in a single row, they need to be in a single list like:

[
    [
        "i-123",
        "Name1",
        "running"
    ],
    [
        "i-123",
        "Name2",
        "running"
    ]
]

So specifically, you'll need to say you want the first element in the list of tag values. This is possible in the develop branch of the CLI, but is not in an actual release just yet. The syntax for this is:

--query 'Reservations[].Instances[].[InstanceId, Tags[?Key==`Name`].Value | [0], State.Name]'

I'll update this issue when a CLI release is pushed that has support for this syntax.

[jamesls]

Closing, version 1.3.8 of the CLI now supports this syntax.

[Hount]

Umgh, how come I see the exact same issue with awscli aws-cli/1.9.8 Python/2.7.10 Linux/4.2.6-201.fc22.x86_64+debug botocore/1.3.8?

aws ec2 describe-instances --query "Reservations[].Instances[].[State.Name,InstanceId,InstanceType,Tags[0].Value]" --output table
| running| i-idididid | t2.micro | test-machinename |

aws ec2 describe-instances --query "Reservations[].Instances[].[State.Name,InstanceId,InstanceType,Tags[?Key=='Name'].Value]" --output table

| running |
| i-idididid |
| t2.micro |
| test-machinename |

As a workaround
aws ec2 describe-instances --query "Reservations[].Instances[].[InstanceId,State.Name,Tags[?Key=='Name'].Value | [0], InstanceType]" --output table
| i-idididid| running | test-machinename | t2.micro |

[blueyed]

@Hount
The key here is to use Tags[?Key=='Name'].Value | [0].

[rquadling]

Just as a way to demonstrate a use case.

alias ec2p="aws ec2 describe-instances --profile production --query \"sort_by(Reservations[].Instances[].{Name:Tags[?Key=='Name'].Value|[0],ID:InstanceId,Type:InstanceType,IP:PrivateIpAddress,State:State.Name,AMI:ImageId}, &Type) | []\" --output table"
alias ec2s="aws ec2 describe-instances --profile staging --query \"sort_by(Reservations[].Instances[].{Name:Tags[?Key=='Name'].Value|[0],ID:InstanceId,Type:InstanceType,IP:PrivateIpAddress,State:State.Name,AMI:ImageId}, &Type) | []\" --output table"

Looks like ..

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
|                                                  DescribeInstances                                       |
+-----------------------+----------------------+--------------+-----------------+-----------+--------------+
|          AMI          |         ID           |     IP       |       Name      |   State   |    Type      |
+-----------------------+----------------------+--------------+-----------------+-----------+--------------+
|  ami-xxxxxxxx         |  i-05324595c01e9b008 |  10.0.21.54  |  Packer Builder |  stopped  |  c4.2xlarge  |
|  ami-xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx|  i-05a5ab56460a931fe |  10.0.19.18  |  prod-asg-app   |  running  |  m4.large    |
|  ami-xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx|  i-046989b3c9021fde4 |  10.0.72.14  |  prod-asg-app   |  running  |  m4.large    |
|  ami-xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx|  i-01939242d438d381b |  10.0.64.223 |  prod-asg-app   |  running  |  m4.large    |
|  ami-xxxxxxxx         |  i-0f6682340bde6a2c6 |  10.0.89.21  |  Bastion        |  running  |  t2.micro    |
+-----------------------+----------------------+--------------+-----------------+-----------+--------------+