# Targeting using Pillar

Pillar data can be used when targeting minions. This allows for ultimate control and flexibility when targeting minions.

Note

To start using Pillar targeting it is required to make a Pillar data cache on Salt Master for each Minion via following commands: `salt '*' saltutil.refresh_pillar` or `salt '*' saltutil.sync_all`. Also Pillar data cache will be populated during the highstate run. Once Pillar data changes, you must refresh the cache by running above commands for this targeting method to work correctly.

Example:

    salt -I 'somekey:specialvalue' test.version

Like with Grains, it is possible to use globbing as well as match nested values in Pillar, by adding colons for each level that is being traversed. The below example would match minions with a pillar named `foo`, which is a dict containing a key `bar`, with a value beginning with `baz`:

    salt -I 'foo:bar:baz*' test.version