terraform/website/docs/cli/commands/console.mdx

---
page_title: 'Command: console'
description: >-
  The terraform console command provides an interactive console for evaluating
  expressions.
---

# Command: console

The `terraform console` command provides an interactive console for
evaluating [expressions](/language/expressions/).

## Usage

Usage: `terraform console [options]`

This command provides an interactive command-line console for evaluating and
experimenting with [expressions](/language/expressions/).
This is useful for testing interpolations before using them in configurations,
and for interacting with any values currently saved in
[state](/language/state/).

If the current state is empty or has not yet been created, the console can be
used to experiment with the expression syntax and
[built-in functions](/language/functions/).

You can close the console with the `exit` command or by pressing Control-C
or Control-D.

For configurations using
[the `local` backend](/language/settings/backends/local) only,
`terraform console` accepts the legacy command line option
[`-state`](/language/settings/backends/local#command-line-arguments).

## Scripting

The `terraform console` command can be used in non-interactive scripts
by piping newline-separated commands to it. Only the output from the
final command is printed unless an error occurs earlier.

For example:

```shell
$ echo 'split(",", "foo,bar,baz")' | terraform console
tolist([
  "foo",
  "bar",
  "baz",
])
```

## Remote State

If [remote state](/language/state/remote) is used by the current backend,
Terraform will read the state for the current workspace from the backend
before evaluating any expressions.

## Examples

The `terraform console` command will read the Terraform configuration in the
current working directory and the Terraform state file from the configured
backend so that interpolations can be tested against both the values in the
configuration and the state file.

With the following `main.tf`:

```hcl
variable "apps" {
  type = map(any)
  default = {
    "foo" = {
      "region" = "us-east-1",
    },
    "bar" = {
      "region" = "eu-west-1",
    },
    "baz" = {
      "region" = "ap-south-1",
    },
  }
}

resource "random_pet" "example" {
  for_each = var.apps
}
```

Executing `terraform console` will drop you into an interactive shell where you
can test interpolations to:

Print a value from a map:

```
> var.apps.foo
{
  "region" = "us-east-1"
}
```

Filter a map based on a specific value:

```
> { for key, value in var.apps : key => value if value.region == "us-east-1" }
{
  "foo" = {
    "region" = "us-east-1"
  }
}
```

Check if certain values may not be known until apply:

```
> random_pet.example
(known after apply)
```

Test various functions:

```
> cidrnetmask("172.16.0.0/12")
"255.240.0.0"
```