--- layout: "aws" page_title: "AWS: aws_security_group" sidebar_current: "docs-aws-datasource-security-group" description: |- Provides details about a specific Security Group --- # aws\_security\_group `aws_security_group` provides details about a specific Security Group. This resource can prove useful when a module accepts a Security Group id as an input variable and needs to, for example, determine the id of the VPC that the security group belongs to. ## Example Usage The following example shows how one might accept a Security Group id as a variable and use this data source to obtain the data necessary to create a subnet. ``` variable "security_group_id" {} data "aws_security_group" "selected" { id = "${var.security_group}" } resource "aws_subnet" "subnet" { vpc_id = "${data.aws_security_group.selected.vpc_id}" cidr_block = "10.0.1.0/24" } ``` ## Argument Reference The arguments of this data source act as filters for querying the available security group in the current region. The given filters must match exactly one security group whose data will be exported as attributes. * `filter` - (Optional) Custom filter block as described below. * `id` - (Optional) The id of the specific security group to retrieve. * `name` - (Optional) The name that the desired security group must have. * `tags` - (Optional) A mapping of tags, each pair of which must exactly match a pair on the desired security group. * `vpc_id` - (Optional) The id of the VPC that the desired security group belongs to. More complex filters can be expressed using one or more `filter` sub-blocks, which take the following arguments: * `name` - (Required) The name of the field to filter by, as defined by [the underlying AWS API](http://docs.aws.amazon.com/AWSEC2/latest/APIReference/API_DescribeSecurityGroups.html). * `values` - (Required) Set of values that are accepted for the given field. A Security Group will be selected if any one of the given values matches. ## Attributes Reference All of the argument attributes except `filter` blocks are also exported as result attributes. This data source will complete the data by populating any fields that are not included in the configuration with the data for the selected Security Group. Additionally, the `description` attribute is exported. ~> **Note:** The [default security group for a VPC](http://docs.aws.amazon.com/AmazonVPC/latest/UserGuide/VPC_SecurityGroups.html#DefaultSecurityGroup) has the name `default`.