169 lines
7.3 KiB
Plaintext
169 lines
7.3 KiB
Plaintext
---
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page_title: Basic CLI Features
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description: An introduction to the terraform command and its available subcommands.
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---
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# Basic CLI Features
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> **Hands-on:** Try the [Terraform: Get Started](https://learn.hashicorp.com/collections/terraform/aws-get-started?utm_source=WEBSITE&utm_medium=WEB_IO&utm_offer=ARTICLE_PAGE&utm_content=DOCS) collection on HashiCorp Learn.
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The command line interface to Terraform is via the `terraform` command, which
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accepts a variety of subcommands such as `terraform init` or `terraform plan`.
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A full list of all of the supported subcommands is in the navigation section
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of this page.
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We refer to the `terraform` command line tool as "Terraform CLI" elsewhere
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in the documentation. This terminology is often used to distinguish it from
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other components you might use in the Terraform product family, such as
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[Terraform Cloud](/cloud-docs) or
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the various [Terraform providers](/language/providers), which
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are developed and released separately from Terraform CLI.
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To view a list of the commands available in your current Terraform version,
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run `terraform` with no additional arguments:
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```text
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Usage: terraform [global options] <subcommand> [args]
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The available commands for execution are listed below.
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The primary workflow commands are given first, followed by
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less common or more advanced commands.
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Main commands:
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init Prepare your working directory for other commands
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validate Check whether the configuration is valid
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plan Show changes required by the current configuration
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apply Create or update infrastructure
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destroy Destroy previously-created infrastructure
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All other commands:
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console Try Terraform expressions at an interactive command prompt
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fmt Reformat your configuration in the standard style
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force-unlock Release a stuck lock on the current workspace
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get Install or upgrade remote Terraform modules
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graph Generate a Graphviz graph of the steps in an operation
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import Associate existing infrastructure with a Terraform resource
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login Obtain and save credentials for a remote host
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logout Remove locally-stored credentials for a remote host
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output Show output values from your root module
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providers Show the providers required for this configuration
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refresh Update the state to match remote systems
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show Show the current state or a saved plan
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state Advanced state management
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taint Mark a resource instance as not fully functional
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untaint Remove the 'tainted' state from a resource instance
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version Show the current Terraform version
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workspace Workspace management
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Global options (use these before the subcommand, if any):
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-chdir=DIR Switch to a different working directory before executing the
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given subcommand.
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-help Show this help output, or the help for a specified subcommand.
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-version An alias for the "version" subcommand.
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```
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(The output from your current Terraform version may be different than the
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above example.)
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To get specific help for any specific command, use the `-help` option with the
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relevant subcommand. For example, to see help about the "validate" subcommand
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you can run `terraform validate -help`.
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The inline help built in to Terraform CLI describes the most important
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characteristics of each command. For more detailed information, refer to each
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command's section of this documentation, available in the navigation
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section of this page.
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## Switching working directory with `-chdir`
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The usual way to run Terraform is to first switch to the directory containing
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the `.tf` files for your root module (for example, using the `cd` command), so
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that Terraform will find those files automatically without any extra arguments.
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In some cases though — particularly when wrapping Terraform in automation
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scripts — it can be convenient to run Terraform from a different directory than
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the root module directory. To allow that, Terraform supports a global option
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`-chdir=...` which you can include before the name of the subcommand you intend
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to run:
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```
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terraform -chdir=environments/production apply
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```
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The `chdir` option instructs Terraform to change its working directory to the
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given directory before running the given subcommand. This means that any files
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that Terraform would normally read or write in the current working directory
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will be read or written in the given directory instead.
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There are two exceptions where Terraform will use the original working directory
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even when you specify `-chdir=...`:
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* Settings in the [CLI Configuration](/cli/config/config-file) are not for a specific
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subcommand and Terraform processes them before acting on the `-chdir`
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option.
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* In case you need to use files from the original working directory as part
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of your configuration, a reference to `path.cwd` in the configuration will
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produce the original working directory instead of the overridden working
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directory. Use `path.root` to get the root module directory.
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## Shell Tab-completion
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If you use either `bash` or `zsh` as your command shell, Terraform can provide
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tab-completion support for all command names and (at this time) _some_ command
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arguments.
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To add the necessary commands to your shell profile, run the following command:
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```bash
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terraform -install-autocomplete
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```
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After installation, it is necessary to restart your shell or to re-read its
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profile script before completion will be activated.
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To uninstall the completion hook, assuming that it has not been modified
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manually in the shell profile, run the following command:
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```bash
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terraform -uninstall-autocomplete
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```
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Currently not all of Terraform's subcommands have full tab-completion support
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for all arguments. We plan to improve tab-completion coverage over time.
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## Upgrade and Security Bulletin Checks
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The Terraform CLI commands interact with the HashiCorp service
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[Checkpoint](https://checkpoint.hashicorp.com/) to check for the availability
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of new versions and for critical security bulletins about the current version.
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One place where the effect of this can be seen is in `terraform version`, where
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it is used by default to indicate in the output when a newer version is
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available.
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Only anonymous information, which cannot be used to identify the user or host,
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is sent to Checkpoint. An anonymous ID is sent which helps de-duplicate warning
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messages. Both the anonymous id and the use of checkpoint itself are completely
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optional and can be disabled.
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Checkpoint itself can be entirely disabled for all HashiCorp products by
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setting the environment variable `CHECKPOINT_DISABLE` to any non-empty value.
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Alternatively, settings in
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[the CLI configuration file](/cli/config/config-file) can be used to
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disable checkpoint features. The following checkpoint-related settings are
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supported in this file:
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* `disable_checkpoint` - set to `true` to disable checkpoint calls
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entirely. This is similar to the `CHECKPOINT_DISABLE` environment variable
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described above.
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* `disable_checkpoint_signature` - set to `true` to disable the use of an
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anonymous signature in checkpoint requests. This allows Terraform to check
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for security bulletins but does not send the anonymous signature in these
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requests.
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[The Checkpoint client code](https://github.com/hashicorp/go-checkpoint) used
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by Terraform is available for review by any interested party.
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