CLI Commands Cheat Sheet

Terraform Command-Line Interface (CLI) offers a variety of commands to help you manage and manipulate your Terraform projects. This cheat sheet provides a quick reference to the most commonly used commands.

Key Terraform Commands

1. terraform init:

   • Initializes a Terraform working directory by installing necessary plugins.
   • Usage: terraform init

2. terraform plan:

   • Creates an execution plan, showing what Terraform will do when you run terraform apply.
   • Usage: terraform plan

3. terraform apply:

   • Applies the changes required to reach the desired state of the configuration.
   • Usage: terraform apply

4. terraform destroy:

   • Destroys the Terraform-managed infrastructure.
   • Usage: terraform destroy

5. terraform fmt:

   • Automatically formats the Terraform configuration files to a canonical format and style.
   • Usage: terraform fmt

6. terraform validate:

   • Validates the configuration files for syntax correctness.
   • Usage: terraform validate

7. terraform output:

   • Displays the outputs defined in your Terraform project.
   • Usage: terraform output

8. terraform refresh:

   • Updates the state file of your Terraform configuration with the actual state of the configured resources.
   • Usage: terraform refresh

9. terraform show:

   • Displays human-readable output from a state or plan file.
   • Usage: terraform show

10. terraform state:

    • Offers several subcommands for advanced state management, like list, mv, pull, push, rm.
    • Usage: terraform state [subcommand]

11. terraform workspace:

    • Manages workspaces, allowing you to use the same configuration for multiple sets of resources.
    • Usage: terraform workspace [subcommand]

Notes

• Always run terraform plan before applying changes to understand the impact.
• Use terraform fmt and terraform validate to ensure your code is clean and error-free.
• Workspaces can be helpful to manage different environments (development, staging, production) with the same configuration.