CLI alternative to http://cloud-images.ubuntu.com/locator/ec2/ In addition to filtering supports sorting.

find-ubuntu-ami.sh

#!/bin/bash

usage() {
	cat >&2 <<__
usage: find-ubuntu-ami.sh [ <filter>... ] [ <sorting> ]

where:
    <filter> is pair of key and substring to search
        -r <region>
        -n <name>
        -v <version>
        -a <arch>
        -t <type>
        -d <date>
        -i <image>
        -k <kernel>

    <sorting> is on of:
        -R   by region 
        -N   by name 
        -V   by version 
        -A   by arch 
        -T   by type 
        -D   by date 
        -I   by image 
        -K   by kernel 
__
	exit 1
}

args=`getopt hr:n:v:a:t:d:i:k:RNVATDIK $*`
if [ $? != 0 ] ; then
	echo >&2
	usage
fi

region=
name=
version=
arch=
type=
date=
image=
kernel=

sort=date

set -- $args
for a ; do
	case "$a" in
		-h) usage ;;

		-r) region=$2 ; shift ;;
		-n) name=$2 ; shift ;;
		-v) version=$2 ; shift ;;
		-a) arch=$2 ; shift ;;
		-t) type=$2 ; shift ;;
		-d) date=$2 ; shift ;;
		-i) image=$2 ; shift ;;
		-k) kernel=$2 ; shift ;;
		
		-R) sort=region ;;
		-N) sort=name ;;
		-V) sort=version ;;
		-A) sort=arch ;;
		-T) sort=type ;;
		-D) sort=date ;;
		-I) sort=image ;;
		-K) sort=kernel ;;
		
		--) shift ; break ;;
		*) continue ;;
	esac
	shift
done

[ $# = 0 ] || usage

fix_json() {
	tr -d \\n | sed 's/,]}/]}/'
}

jq_query() { cat <<__
	.aaData | map (
		{
			region: .[0],
			name: .[1],
			version: .[2],
			arch: .[3],
			type: .[4],
			date: .[5],
			image: .[6],
			kernel: .[7]
		} | select (
			(.region | contains("$region")) and
			(.name | contains("$name")) and
			(.version | contains("$version")) and
			(.arch | contains("$arch")) and
			(.type | contains("$type")) and
			(.date | contains("$date")) and
			(.image | contains("$image</a>")) and
			(.kernel | contains("$kernel"))
		)
	) | sort_by(.$sort) | .[] |
	"\(.region)|\(.name)|\(.version)|\(.arch)|\(.type)|\(.date)|\(.image)|\(.kernel)"
__
}

trim_quotes() {
	sed 's/^"//;s/"$//'
}

escape_spaces() {
	sed 's/ /\\\ /g'
}

url=http://cloud-images.ubuntu.com/locator/ec2/releasesTable

{
	echo REGION NAME VERSION ARCH TYPE DATE IMAGE KERNEL
	curl -s $url | fix_json | jq "`jq_query`" | trim_quotes | escape_spaces | tr \| ' '
} |
	while read region name version arch type date image kernel ; do
		image=${image%<*}
		image=${image#*>}
		echo "$region|$name|$version|$arch|$type|$date|$image|$kernel"
	done | column -t -s \|