# Parsing a List result - Ruby

**URL:** <https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/parsing-a-list-result-ruby/158074>\
**Category:** Ruby-Forum\
**Created:** [January 19, 2009, 3:32am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/parsing-a-list-result-ruby/158074 "2009-01-19T03:32:13Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 1\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![oferar](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/o/67e7ee/32.png) [@oferar](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/oferar)\
**Post date:** [January 19, 2009, 3:32am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/parsing-a-list-result-ruby/158074/1 "2009-01-19T03:32:13Z")

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Hi Folks,

I need to parse a result that comes in this format :

# ========================= ec2.describe\_instances #=\> [{:aws\_image\_id =\> “ami-e444444d”, :aws\_reason =\> “”, :aws\_state\_code =\> “16”, :aws\_owner =\> “000000000888”, :aws\_instance\_id =\> “i-123f1234”, :aws\_reservation\_id =\> “r-aabbccdd”, :aws\_state =\> “running”, :dns\_name =\> “[domU-12-34-67-89-01-C9.usma2.compute.amazonaws.com](http://domU-12-34-67-89-01-C9.usma2.compute.amazonaws.com)”, :ssh\_key\_name =\> “staging”, :aws\_groups =\> [“default”], :private\_dns\_name =\> “[domU-12-34-67-89-01-C9.usma2.compute.amazonaws.com](http://domU-12-34-67-89-01-C9.usma2.compute.amazonaws.com)”, :aws\_instance\_type =\> “m1.small”, :aws\_launch\_time =\> “2008-1-1T00:00:00.000Z”}, :aws\_availability\_zone =\> “us-east-1b”, :aws\_kernel\_id =\> “aki-ba3adfd3”, :aws\_ramdisk\_id =\> “ari-badbad00”, …, {…}]

When I invoke the method,

puts @ec2.describe\_instances

# the results comes like this :

# aws\_image\_idami-e444444daws\_reasonaws\_state\_codeaws\_owner000000000888aws\_instance\_id i-123f1234aws\_reservation\_idr-aabbccddaws\_staterunningdns\_name domU-12-34-67-89-01-C9.usma2.compute.amazonaws.comssh\_key\_namestagingaws\_groups …

Question :

Is there a way of accessing a specific key, for example : aws\_status ?  
If so, how do I do that ?

Thank you so much.

Regards.