Terraform Cheat Sheet

Installation Managing state

Command Description
See https://developer.hashicorp.com/terraform/downloads for installation instructions for your platform.
Then run terraform -install-autocomplete to enable shell autocompletion. terraform show Show the current state in human-readable form
terraform show <file> Show a human-readable state or plan file
Initializing Terraform terraform show -json <file> Show a state or plan file in JSON format
Command Description
terraform state list List all resources in the state file
terraform init Prepare your working directory for other commands
terraform state show <resource> Show details about a resource
Upgrade modules/providers to the latest allowed
terraform init -upgrade terraform state mv <source> <dest> Rename a resource in the state file
versions
terraform state rm <resource> Remove a resource from the state file
terraform get Only download and install modules
terraform state replace-provider <from>
Replace provider for resources in the state
<to>
Making infrastructure changes
terraform import <resource> <remote_id> Import existing infrastructure into Terraform
Command Description
terraform state pull Pull current state and output to stdout
terraform plan Show changes required by the current configuration
terraform refresh (Deprecated) Update state to match reality
terraform plan -out=<file> Write the plan to a file to apply it later
terraform plan -target <resource> Create a plan for a specific module or resource
Tainting resources
terraform plan -replace <resource> Force the plan to replace a specific resource
Command Description
terraform plan -var '<key>=<value>' Set a value for one of the input variables
terraform taint <resource> (Deprecated) Mark a resource to be replaced
terraform plan -refresh-only Inspect resource drift without updating the state file
terraform untaint <resource> Mark a resource as no longer tainted
terraform apply Create or update infrastructure
terraform apply <file> Create or update infrastructure using a plan file Destroying infrastructure
terraform apply -target <resource> Create or update a specific resource Command Description
terraform apply -replace <resource> Force the replacement of a specific resource terraform destroy Destroy infrastructure managed by Terraform
terraform apply -auto-approve Skip interactive approval of plan before applying terraform destroy -target <resource> Destroy a specific resource

Inspecting output values Formatting and validation

Command Description Command Description
terraform output Show all output values terraform validate Check whether the configuration is valid
terraform output -json Show all output values in JSON format terraform fmt Reformat your configuration in the standard style
terraform output <name> Show a specific output value
Check whether the configuration is formatted
terraform fmt -check
terraform output -raw <name> Show a specific output value without quotes correctly, return non-zero exit code if not

© Nic Wortel, Software Consultant & Trainer - Last update: August 18, 2023 - Find more cheat sheets at https://nicwortel.nl/cheat-sheets
 Terraform Cloud / Remote Authentication Conditional Expressions
Command Description Syntax Description
terraform login Log in to Terraform Cloud If condition is true, return true, otherwise return
condition ? true : false
false
terraform login <hostname> Log in to a different host
terraform logout Log out of Terraform Cloud
Splat Expressions
terraform logout <hostname> Log out of a different host
Syntax Description
Return a list of values for the given attribute of all
Managing workspaces <RESOURCE_TYPE>.<NAME>[*].<ATTRIBUTE>
instances of a resource
Command Description
terraform workspace list List all existing workspaces Resource Meta-Arguments
terraform workspace show Show the name of the current workspace Argument Description
terraform workspace select <name> Select a different workspace depends_on Explicitly specify resource dependencies
terraform workspace new <name> Create a new workspace count Create multiple instances of a resource
terraform workspace delete <name> Delete an existing workspace Create an instance of a resource for each element in
for_each
a map or set

Other commands Specify a provider configuration block to use for this

provider
resource
Command Description
Configure the behavior of a resource over its
lifecycle
terraform providers Show the providers required for this configuration lifetime
terraform force-unlock <lock-id> Release a stuck lock
terraform console Try Terraform expressions at an interactive prompt Lifecycle Meta-Argument Attributes
terraform graph | dot -Tpng > graph.png Generate a visual graph of Terraform resources Argument Description

terraform version Show the current Terraform version Create the new resource before destroying the old
create_before_destroy
one
terraform -help Show help output for Terraform
prevent_destroy Prevent Terraform from destroying the resource
terraform -help <command> Show help output for a specific Terraform command
ignore_changes Ignore changes to specific resource attributes

Referencing Named Values

Syntax Description
<RESOURCE_TYPE>.<NAME> Reference to a managed resource
var.<NAME> Reference to an input variable
local.<NAME> Reference to a local value
module.<MODULE NAME> Reference to a child module
data.<DATA TYPE>.<NAME> Reference to a data source

© Nic Wortel, Software Consultant & Trainer - Last update: August 18, 2023 - Find more cheat sheets at https://nicwortel.nl/cheat-sheets