Skip to main content
In this guide, we’ll explore essential Amazon S3 operations—listing, creating, deleting buckets, and managing objects—using the AWS CLI. Automate your workflows and integrate these commands into scripts for seamless infrastructure management.

​
Prerequisites

  • AWS CLI installed and configured (aws configure)
  • IAM permissions to list, create, and delete S3 buckets and objects
  • Unique bucket names (globally unique across AWS)
Before creating a bucket, verify the name’s availability. Bucket names must be globally unique and compliant with DNS naming conventions.

​
Quick Reference: Common S3 CLI Commands

OperationCommandDescription
List Bucketsaws s3 lsDisplay all S3 buckets in the account
Create Bucketaws s3 mb s3://<bucket-name> --region ...Make a new bucket in a specified region
Delete Bucketaws s3 rb s3://<bucket-name> [--force]Remove an empty bucket or delete recursively
List Objectsaws s3 ls s3://<bucket>Show top-level objects and prefixes
Copy Files/Dirsaws s3 cp <src> <dest> [--recursive]Copy files between local and S3
Move Files/Dirsaws s3 mv <src> <dest> [--recursive]Move files between local and S3
Sync Directoriesaws s3 sync <local> s3://<bucket>Sync only new or changed files
Delete Objectsaws s3 rm s3://<bucket>/<key> [--recursive]Remove objects or entire prefixes

​
1. Listing S3 Buckets

Retrieve all buckets in your AWS account: 
$ aws s3 ls
2023-03-29 00:51:27 bucket1
2023-03-28 02:22:48 bucket2
2023-03-28 02:20:43 bucket3

​
2. Creating a New Bucket

Use the make bucket command and specify a region: 
$ aws s3 mb s3://newbucket --region us-east-1
make_bucket: newbucket

​
3. Deleting a Bucket

Remove an empty bucket: 
$ aws s3 rb s3://newbucket
remove_bucket: newbucket
To delete a bucket and all its contents, add --force: 
$ aws s3 rb s3://newbucket --force
remove_bucket: newbucket
Using --force is irreversible. All objects in the bucket will be permanently deleted.

​
4. Listing Objects Inside a Bucket

​
4.1 Top-Level Listing

List prefixes (folders) and files at the root of the bucket: 
$ aws s3 ls s3://newbucket
                           PRE logs/
                           PRE media/
2023-03-29 01:38:08          0 file1.txt
2023-03-29 01:38:09          0 file2.txt

​
4.2 Recursive Listing

Show every object under the bucket: 
$ aws s3 ls s3://newbucket --recursive
2023-03-29 01:38:08          0 file1.txt
2023-03-29 01:38:09          0 file2.txt
2023-03-29 01:38:09          0 logs/log1
2023-03-29 01:38:09          0 logs/log2
2023-03-29 01:38:10      24599 media/images/image1.png
2023-03-29 01:38:10      21420 media/images/image2.png

​
5. Copying Files

​
5.1 Local → S3

Upload a file without deleting the source: 
$ aws s3 cp file1.txt s3://newbucket
upload: ./file1.txt to s3://newbucket/file1.txt

​
5.2 S3 → Local

Download an object to a local directory: 
$ aws s3 cp s3://newbucket/file1.txt /tmp/
download: s3://newbucket/file1.txt to ./tmp/file1.txt

​
5.3 S3 → S3

Copy between two buckets: 
$ aws s3 cp s3://bucket1/file1.txt s3://bucket2/
copy: s3://bucket1/file1.txt to s3://bucket2/file1.txt

​
6. Deleting Objects

​
6.1 Single Object

$ aws s3 rm s3://bucket/404.html
delete: s3://bucket/404.html

​
6.2 Multiple Objects (Recursive)

$ aws s3 rm s3://bucket/logs/ --recursive
delete: s3://bucket/logs/log1
delete: s3://bucket/logs/log2

​
7. Directory Operations

Most S3 CLI commands support --recursive to process all files under a directory or prefix.

​
7.1 Copy an Entire Directory

$ aws s3 cp media/ s3://newbucket --recursive

​
7.2 Move Files and Directories

Use mv to transfer and remove the source: 
# Local → S3
$ aws s3 mv file1.txt s3://newbucket
move: ./file1.txt to s3://newbucket/file1.txt

# S3 → Local
$ aws s3 mv s3://newbucket/file1.txt /tmp/
move: s3://newbucket/file1.txt to ./tmp/file1.txt

# Recursive Move
$ aws s3 mv media/ s3://newbucket --recursive

​
8. Synchronizing Directories

Keep a local folder and an S3 prefix in sync. Only new or updated files transfer: 
$ aws s3 sync /path/to/local/dir s3://bucket
upload: home/bob to s3://bucket/home/bob
upload: var/log  to s3://bucket/var/log
Adding new files (for example, etc/ssh) and rerunning uploads only those: 
$ aws s3 sync /path/to/local/dir s3://bucket
upload: etc/ssh to s3://bucket/etc/ssh

​
Next Steps

You’ve mastered the core AWS S3 CLI commands for bucket and object management. Apply these operations in scripts or CI/CD pipelines to automate your workflows.

Watch Video