# Cloud Functions

Cloud functions work much the same way as cloud actions, except that they don't perform an operation on a specific instance, and so do not need a machine name to be specified. However, since they perform an operation on a specific cloud provider, that provider must be specified.

    $ salt-cloud -f show_image ec2 image=ami-fd20ad94

There are three universal salt-cloud functions that are extremely useful for gathering information about instances on a provider basis:

- `list_nodes`: Returns some general information about the instances for the given provider.

- `list_nodes_full`: Returns all information about the instances for the given provider.

- `list_nodes_select`: Returns select information about the instances for the given provider.

    $ salt-cloud -f list_nodes linode
    $ salt-cloud -f list_nodes_full linode
    $ salt-cloud -f list_nodes_select linode

Another useful reference for viewing `salt-cloud` functions is the Salt Cloud Feature Matrix.