Finding a Linux AMI.

example.sh

#!/usr/bin/env bash
set -euo pipefail

# Ref: Ref: https://docs.aws.amazon.com/AWSEC2/latest/UserGuide/finding-an-ami.html
aws ec2 describe-images \
    --owners 099720109477 \
    --filters "Name=name,Values=ubuntu/images/hvm-ssd/ubuntu-bionic-18.04-amd64-*" \
        "Name=architecture,Values=x86_64" \
        "Name=virtualization-type,Values=hvm" \
        "Name=root-device-type,Values=ebs"

# Sorting results using jq
# Ref: http://denniswebb.info/snippet/aws-ec2-ami-sorted/
aws ec2 describe-images \
    --owners 099720109477 \
    --filters "Name=name,Values=ubuntu/images/hvm-ssd/ubuntu-bionic-18.04-amd64-*" \
        "Name=architecture,Values=x86_64" \
        "Name=virtualization-type,Values=hvm" \
        "Name=root-device-type,Values=ebs" \
| jq '.Images | sort_by(.CreationDate) | .[] | {Name: .Name, Created: .CreationDate, Id: .ImageId}'

example.tf

data "aws_ami" "ubuntu-bionic" {
  most_recent = true
  owners      = ["099720109477"]  # Canonical

  filter {
    name   = "name"
    values = ["ubuntu/images/hvm-ssd/ubuntu-bionic-18.04-amd64-*"]
  }

  filter {
    name   = "architecture"
    values = ["x86_64"]
  }

  filter {
    name   = "virtualization-type"
    values = ["hvm"]
  }

  filter {
    name   = "root-device-type"
    values = ["ebs"]
  }
}