terraform/website/docs/configuration/functions/element.html.md

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---
layout: "language"
page_title: "element - Functions - Configuration Language"
sidebar_current: "docs-funcs-collection-element"
description: |-
The element function retrieves a single element from a list.
---
# `element` Function
-> **Note:** This page is about Terraform 0.12 and later. For Terraform 0.11 and
earlier, see
[0.11 Configuration Language: Interpolation Syntax](../../configuration-0-11/interpolation.html).
`element` retrieves a single element from a list.
```hcl
element(list, index)
```
The index is zero-based. This function produces an error if used with an
empty list. The index must be a non-negative integer.
Use the built-in index syntax `list[index]` in most cases. Use this function
only for the special additional "wrap-around" behavior described below.
## Examples
```
> element(["a", "b", "c"], 1)
b
```
If the given index is greater than the length of the list then the index is
"wrapped around" by taking the index modulo the length of the list:
```
> element(["a", "b", "c"], 3)
a
```
To get the last element from the list use [`length`](./length.html) to find
the size of the list (minus 1 as the list is zero-based) and then pick the
last element:
```
> element(["a", "b", "c"], length(["a", "b", "c"])-1)
c
```
## Related Functions
* [`index`](./index.html) finds the index for a particular element value.
* [`lookup`](./lookup.html) retrieves a value from a _map_ given its _key_.