Console

expected time	requirements
30 minutes	A computer with Terraform installed, terraform knowledge.

Goal: See if using the console can help you.

Explanation

Using terraform console is not an every-day task, but it can be quite useful. The console allows you to:

• Try functions.
• Try to walk over variables.
• Inspect items in the state.

You can access the console by running terraform console. Hit CTRL+D to exit.

You can access state to inspect items in the state, just as terraform show. In the console you can apply functions to items from the state to see how they react.

Try function

> length("How long is this string?")
24

Inspect variables

In some (edge) cases, it can be difficult to understand the value of a variable. The console can help.

$ cat variables.tf 
variable "text" {
  default = "Hello world!"
}
$ terraform console
> var.text
"Hello world!"

Inspect state

$ terraform show 
# local_file.default:
resource "local_file" "default" {
    content              = "Hello world!"
    directory_permission = "0755"
    file_permission      = "0644"
    filename             = "foo.bar"
    id                   = "d3486ae9136e7856bc42212385ea797094475802"
}
$ terraform console
> local_file.default
{
  "content" = "Hello world!"
  "content_base64" = tostring(null)
  "directory_permission" = "0755"
  "file_permission" = "0644"
  "filename" = "foo.bar"
  "id" = "d3486ae9136e7856bc42212385ea797094475802"
  "sensitive_content" = (sensitive)
  "source" = tostring(null)
}
> length(local_file.default.content)
12

Assignment

• Use the pow function in the console to calculate 4 to the power of 3.
• From a directory with state, calculate the length of the first resource shown with terraform show.