terraform/website/docs/configuration/expressions/splat.html.md

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language	Splat Expressions - Configuration Language

Splat Expressions

Hands-on: Try the Create Dynamic Expressions tutorial on HashiCorp Learn.

A splat expression provides a more concise way to express a common operation that could otherwise be performed with a for expression.

If var.list is a list of objects that all have an attribute id, then a list of the ids could be produced with the following for expression:

[for o in var.list : o.id]

This is equivalent to the following splat expression:

var.list[*].id

The special [*] symbol iterates over all of the elements of the list given to its left and accesses from each one the attribute name given on its right. A splat expression can also be used to access attributes and indexes from lists of complex types by extending the sequence of operations to the right of the symbol:

var.list[*].interfaces[0].name

The above expression is equivalent to the following for expression:

[for o in var.list : o.interfaces[0].name]

Splat expressions are for lists only (and thus cannot be used to reference resources created with for_each, which are represented as maps in Terraform). However, if a splat expression is applied to a value that is not a list or tuple then the value is automatically wrapped in a single-element list before processing.

For example, var.single_object[*].id is equivalent to [var.single_object][*].id, or effectively [var.single_object.id]. This behavior is not interesting in most cases, but it is particularly useful when referring to resources that may or may not have count set, and thus may or may not produce a tuple value:

aws_instance.example[*].id

The above will produce a list of ids whether aws_instance.example has count set or not, avoiding the need to revise various other expressions in the configuration when a particular resource switches to and from having count set.

Legacy (Attribute-only) Splat Expressions

An older variant of the splat expression is available for compatibility with code written in older versions of the Terraform language. This is a less useful version of the splat expression, and should be avoided in new configurations.

An "attribute-only" splat expression is indicated by the sequence .* (instead of [*]):

var.list.*.interfaces[0].name

This form has a subtly different behavior, equivalent to the following for expression:

[for o in var.list : o.interfaces][0].name

Notice that with the attribute-only splat expression the index operation [0] is applied to the result of the iteration, rather than as part of the iteration itself.