github.com/kanishk98/terraform@v1.3.0-dev.0.20220917174235-661ca8088a6a/website/docs/cli/commands/index.mdx (about) 1 --- 2 page_title: Basic CLI Features 3 description: An introduction to the terraform command and its available subcommands. 4 --- 5 6 # Basic CLI Features 7 8 > **Hands-on:** Try the [Terraform: Get Started](https://learn.hashicorp.com/collections/terraform/aws-get-started?utm_source=WEBSITE&utm_medium=WEB_IO&utm_offer=ARTICLE_PAGE&utm_content=DOCS) tutorials. 9 10 The command line interface to Terraform is the `terraform` command, which 11 accepts a variety of subcommands such as `terraform init` or `terraform plan`. 12 13 We refer to the `terraform` command line tool as "Terraform CLI" elsewhere 14 in the documentation. This terminology is often used to distinguish it from 15 other components you might use in the Terraform product family, such as 16 [Terraform Cloud](/cloud-docs) or 17 the various [Terraform providers](/language/providers), which 18 are developed and released separately from Terraform CLI. 19 20 To view a list of the commands available in your current Terraform version, 21 run `terraform` with no additional arguments: 22 23 ```text 24 Usage: terraform [global options] <subcommand> [args] 25 26 The available commands for execution are listed below. 27 The primary workflow commands are given first, followed by 28 less common or more advanced commands. 29 30 Main commands: 31 init Prepare your working directory for other commands 32 validate Check whether the configuration is valid 33 plan Show changes required by the current configuration 34 apply Create or update infrastructure 35 destroy Destroy previously-created infrastructure 36 37 All other commands: 38 console Try Terraform expressions at an interactive command prompt 39 fmt Reformat your configuration in the standard style 40 force-unlock Release a stuck lock on the current workspace 41 get Install or upgrade remote Terraform modules 42 graph Generate a Graphviz graph of the steps in an operation 43 import Associate existing infrastructure with a Terraform resource 44 login Obtain and save credentials for a remote host 45 logout Remove locally-stored credentials for a remote host 46 output Show output values from your root module 47 providers Show the providers required for this configuration 48 refresh Update the state to match remote systems 49 show Show the current state or a saved plan 50 state Advanced state management 51 taint Mark a resource instance as not fully functional 52 untaint Remove the 'tainted' state from a resource instance 53 version Show the current Terraform version 54 workspace Workspace management 55 56 Global options (use these before the subcommand, if any): 57 -chdir=DIR Switch to a different working directory before executing the 58 given subcommand. 59 -help Show this help output, or the help for a specified subcommand. 60 -version An alias for the "version" subcommand. 61 ``` 62 63 (The output from your current Terraform version may be different than the 64 above example.) 65 66 To get specific help for any specific command, use the `-help` option with the 67 relevant subcommand. For example, to see help about the "validate" subcommand 68 you can run `terraform validate -help`. 69 70 The inline help built in to Terraform CLI describes the most important 71 characteristics of each command. For more detailed information, refer to each 72 command's page for details. 73 74 ## Switching working directory with `-chdir` 75 76 The usual way to run Terraform is to first switch to the directory containing 77 the `.tf` files for your root module (for example, using the `cd` command), so 78 that Terraform will find those files automatically without any extra arguments. 79 80 In some cases though — particularly when wrapping Terraform in automation 81 scripts — it can be convenient to run Terraform from a different directory than 82 the root module directory. To allow that, Terraform supports a global option 83 `-chdir=...` which you can include before the name of the subcommand you intend 84 to run: 85 86 ``` 87 terraform -chdir=environments/production apply 88 ``` 89 90 The `chdir` option instructs Terraform to change its working directory to the 91 given directory before running the given subcommand. This means that any files 92 that Terraform would normally read or write in the current working directory 93 will be read or written in the given directory instead. 94 95 There are two exceptions where Terraform will use the original working directory 96 even when you specify `-chdir=...`: 97 98 * Settings in the [CLI Configuration](/cli/config/config-file) are not for a specific 99 subcommand and Terraform processes them before acting on the `-chdir` 100 option. 101 102 * In case you need to use files from the original working directory as part 103 of your configuration, a reference to `path.cwd` in the configuration will 104 produce the original working directory instead of the overridden working 105 directory. Use `path.root` to get the root module directory. 106 107 ## Shell Tab-completion 108 109 If you use either `bash` or `zsh` as your command shell, Terraform can provide 110 tab-completion support for all command names and (at this time) _some_ command 111 arguments. 112 113 To add the necessary commands to your shell profile, run the following command: 114 115 ```bash 116 terraform -install-autocomplete 117 ``` 118 119 After installation, it is necessary to restart your shell or to re-read its 120 profile script before completion will be activated. 121 122 To uninstall the completion hook, assuming that it has not been modified 123 manually in the shell profile, run the following command: 124 125 ```bash 126 terraform -uninstall-autocomplete 127 ``` 128 129 Currently not all of Terraform's subcommands have full tab-completion support 130 for all arguments. We plan to improve tab-completion coverage over time. 131 132 ## Upgrade and Security Bulletin Checks 133 134 The Terraform CLI commands interact with the HashiCorp service 135 [Checkpoint](https://checkpoint.hashicorp.com/) to check for the availability 136 of new versions and for critical security bulletins about the current version. 137 138 One place where the effect of this can be seen is in `terraform version`, where 139 it is used by default to indicate in the output when a newer version is 140 available. 141 142 Only anonymous information, which cannot be used to identify the user or host, 143 is sent to Checkpoint. An anonymous ID is sent which helps de-duplicate warning 144 messages. Both the anonymous id and the use of checkpoint itself are completely 145 optional and can be disabled. 146 147 Checkpoint itself can be entirely disabled for all HashiCorp products by 148 setting the environment variable `CHECKPOINT_DISABLE` to any non-empty value. 149 150 Alternatively, settings in 151 [the CLI configuration file](/cli/config/config-file) can be used to 152 disable checkpoint features. The following checkpoint-related settings are 153 supported in this file: 154 155 * `disable_checkpoint` - set to `true` to disable checkpoint calls 156 entirely. This is similar to the `CHECKPOINT_DISABLE` environment variable 157 described above. 158 159 * `disable_checkpoint_signature` - set to `true` to disable the use of an 160 anonymous signature in checkpoint requests. This allows Terraform to check 161 for security bulletins but does not send the anonymous signature in these 162 requests. 163 164 [The Checkpoint client code](https://github.com/hashicorp/go-checkpoint) used 165 by Terraform is available for review by any interested party.