63 lines
3.1 KiB
Markdown
63 lines
3.1 KiB
Markdown
---
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layout: "docs"
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page_title: "Command: fmt"
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sidebar_current: "docs-commands-fmt"
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description: "The terraform fmt command rewrites configuration files to a canonical format and style."
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---
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# Command: fmt
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The `terraform fmt` command is used to rewrite Terraform configuration files
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to a canonical format and style. This command applies a subset of
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the [Terraform language style conventions](/docs/language/syntax/style.html),
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along with other minor adjustments for readability.
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Other Terraform commands that generate Terraform configuration will produce
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configuration files that conform to the style imposed by `terraform fmt`, so
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using this style in your own files will ensure consistency.
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The canonical format may change in minor ways between Terraform versions, so
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after upgrading Terraform we recommend to proactively run `terraform fmt`
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on your modules along with any other changes you are making to adopt the new
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version.
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We don't consider new formatting rules in `terraform fmt` to be a breaking
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change in new versions of Terraform, but we do aim to minimize changes for
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configurations that are already following the style examples shown in the
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Terraform documentation. When adding new formatting rules, they will usually
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aim to apply more of the rules already shown in the configuration examples
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in the documentation, and so we recommend following the documented style even
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for decisions that `terraform fmt` doesn't yet apply automatically.
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Formatting decisions are always subjective and so you might disagree with the
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decisions that `terraform fmt` makes. This command is intentionally opinionated
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and has no customization options because its primary goal is to encourage
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consistency of style between different Terraform codebases, even though the
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chosen style can never be everyone's favorite.
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We recommend that you follow the style conventions applied by `terraform fmt`
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when writing Terraform modules, but if you find the results particularly
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objectionable then you may choose not to use this command, and possibly choose
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to use a third-party formatting tool instead. If you choose to use a
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third-party tool then you should also run it on files that are generated
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automatically by Terraform, to get consistency between your hand-written files
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and the generated files.
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## Usage
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Usage: `terraform fmt [options] [DIR]`
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By default, `fmt` scans the current directory for configuration files. If
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the `dir` argument is provided then it will scan that given directory
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instead. If `dir` is a single dash (`-`) then `fmt` will read from standard
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input (STDIN).
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The command-line flags are all optional. The list of available flags are:
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* `-list=false` - Don't list the files containing formatting inconsistencies.
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* `-write=false` - Don't overwrite the input files. (This is implied by `-check` or when the input is STDIN.)
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* `-diff` - Display diffs of formatting changes
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* `-check` - Check if the input is formatted. Exit status will be 0 if
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all input is properly formatted and non-zero otherwise.
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* `-recursive` - Also process files in subdirectories. By default, only the given directory (or current directory) is processed.
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