To describe your tags

This example describes the tags for all your resources.

Command:

aws ec2 describe-tags

Output:

{
    "Tags": [
        {
            "ResourceType": "image",
            "ResourceId": "ami-78a54011",
            "Value": "Production",
            "Key": "Stack"
        },
        {
            "ResourceType": "image",
            "ResourceId": "ami-3ac33653",
            "Value": "Test",
            "Key": "Stack"
        },
        {
            "ResourceType": "instance",
            "ResourceId": "i-12345678",
            "Value": "Production",
            "Key": "Stack"
        },
        {
            "ResourceType": "instance",
            "ResourceId": "i-5f4e3d2a",
            "Value": "Test",
            "Key": "Stack"
        },
        {
            "ResourceType": "instance",
            "ResourceId": "i-5f4e3d2a",
            "Value": "Beta Server",
            "Key": "Name"
        },
        {
            "ResourceType": "volume",
            "ResourceId": "vol-1a2b3c4d",
            "Value": "Project1",
            "Key": "Purpose"
        },
        {
            "ResourceType": "volume",
            "ResourceId": "vol-87654321",
            "Value": "Logs",
            "Key": "Purpose"
        }
    ]
}

To describe the tags for a single resource

This example describes the tags for the specified instance.

Command:

aws ec2 describe-tags --filters "Name=resource-id,Values=i-5f4e3d2a"

Output:

{
    "Tags": [
        {
            "ResourceType": "instance",
            "ResourceId": "i-5f4e3d2a",
            "Value": "Test",
            "Key": "Stack"
        },
        {
            "ResourceType": "instance",
            "ResourceId": "i-5f4e3d2a",
            "Value": "Beta Server",
            "Key": "Name"
        }
    ]
}

To describe the tags for a type of resource

This example describes the tags for your volumes.

Command:

aws ec2 describe-tags --filters "Name=resource-type,Values=volume"

Output:

{
    "Tags": [
        {
            "ResourceType": "volume",
            "ResourceId": "vol-1a2b3c4d",
            "Value": "Project1",
            "Key": "Purpose"
        },
        {
            "ResourceType": "volume",
            "ResourceId": "vol-87654321",
            "Value": "Logs",
            "Key": "Purpose"
        }
    ]
}

To describe the tags for your resources based on a key and a value

This example describes the tags for your resources that have the key Stack and a value Test.

Command:

aws ec2 describe-tags --filters "Name=key,Values=Stack" "Name=value,Values=Test"

Output:

{
    "Tags": [
        {
            "ResourceType": "image",
            "ResourceId": "ami-3ac33653",
            "Value": "Test",
            "Key": "Stack"
        },
        {
            "ResourceType": "instance",
            "ResourceId": "i-5f4e3d2a",
            "Value": "Test",
            "Key": "Stack"
        }
    ]
}

This example describes the tags for all your instances that have a tag with the key Purpose and no value.

Command:

aws ec2 describe-tags --filters "Name=resource-type,Values=instance" "Name=key,Values=Purpose" "Name=value,Values="

Output:

{
    "Tags": [
        {
            "ResourceType": "instance",
            "ResourceId": "i-1a2b3c4d",
            "Value": null,
            "Key": "Purpose"
        }
    ]
}