How to List All Available AWS Services with CLI

This is a quick memo on how to retrieve all AWS service names (subcommands) provided via AWS CLI.

Introduction
How to List All Available Services in AWS CLI
- Method
- Example
Conclusion
References

Introduction

Sometimes you might want to list all the services you can use with AWS CLI, like aws ec2 or aws s3. Here's how to get all of them.

# AWS CLI version
$ aws --version
aws-cli/2.11.2 Python/3.11.2 Darwin/23.6.0 exe/x86_64 prompt/off

Note: This article was translated from my original post.

How to List All Available Services in AWS CLI

Method

Use the following command to retrieve all service names available in the AWS CLI:

# To get the list of service names
aws help | col -bx | sed -n '/AVAILABLE SERVICES/,/SEE ALSO/p' | grep 'o ' | awk '{print $2}'

# To get the list of service names as a JSON array
aws help | col -bx | sed -n '/AVAILABLE SERVICES/,/SEE ALSO/p' | grep 'o ' | awk '{print $2}' | jq -R . | jq -s .

Here's what each part of the process does:

aws help
The help page of AWS CLI includes a list of all available services. We start by extracting that.
col -bx
This command removes the special characters (backspace) and converts tabs into spaces.
Without this step, it's difficult to process the help text properly.
For more details, see: Fixing 'aws help' Output That Won’t Work with 'grep' - BioErrorLog Tech Blog (en)
sed -n '/AVAILABLE SERVICES/,/SEE ALSO/p'
Extracts only the section between "AVAILABLE SERVICES" and "SEE ALSO", which contains the list of services.
grep 'o '
Filters lines that start with 'o ', which are used as bullet points for service names.
awk '{print $2}'
Splits each line by whitespace and prints the second field, which is the actual service name.
Each line follows the format o <service-name>, so $1 is o and $2 is the service name.
jq -R .
-R or --raw-input treats each input line as a raw string and converts it to a JSON string.
jq -s .
-s or --slurp reads all lines into a single JSON array.

Example

First, using the command to get plain service names:

$ aws help | col -bx | sed -n '/AVAILABLE SERVICES/,/SEE ALSO/p' | grep 'o ' | awk '{print $2}'
accessanalyzer
account
acm
acm-pca
alexaforbusiness
amp
amplify

# ~omitted~

workdocs
worklink
workmail
workmailmessageflow
workspaces
workspaces-web
xray

The service names are successfully retrieved as plain text.

Next, using the second command to get the list in JSON format:

$ aws help | col -bx | sed -n '/AVAILABLE SERVICES/,/SEE ALSO/p' | grep 'o ' | awk '{print $2}' | jq -R . | jq -s .
[
  "accessanalyzer",
  "account",
  "acm",
  "acm-pca",
  "alexaforbusiness",
  "amp",
  "amplify",

# ~omitted~

  "worklink",
  "workmail",
  "workmailmessageflow",
  "workspaces",
  "workspaces-web",
  "xray"
]