github.com/pulumi/terraform@v1.4.0/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 metadata Metadata related commands 47 output Show output values from your root module 48 providers Show the providers required for this configuration 49 refresh Update the state to match remote systems 50 show Show the current state or a saved plan 51 state Advanced state management 52 taint Mark a resource instance as not fully functional 53 untaint Remove the 'tainted' state from a resource instance 54 version Show the current Terraform version 55 workspace Workspace management 56 57 Global options (use these before the subcommand, if any): 58 -chdir=DIR Switch to a different working directory before executing the 59 given subcommand. 60 -help Show this help output, or the help for a specified subcommand. 61 -version An alias for the "version" subcommand. 62 ``` 63 64 (The output from your current Terraform version may be different than the 65 above example.) 66 67 To get specific help for any specific command, use the `-help` option with the 68 relevant subcommand. For example, to see help about the "validate" subcommand 69 you can run `terraform validate -help`. 70 71 The inline help built in to Terraform CLI describes the most important 72 characteristics of each command. For more detailed information, refer to each 73 command's page for details. 74 75 ## Switching working directory with `-chdir` 76 77 The usual way to run Terraform is to first switch to the directory containing 78 the `.tf` files for your root module (for example, using the `cd` command), so 79 that Terraform will find those files automatically without any extra arguments. 80 81 In some cases though — particularly when wrapping Terraform in automation 82 scripts — it can be convenient to run Terraform from a different directory than 83 the root module directory. To allow that, Terraform supports a global option 84 `-chdir=...` which you can include before the name of the subcommand you intend 85 to run: 86 87 ``` 88 terraform -chdir=environments/production apply 89 ``` 90 91 The `chdir` option instructs Terraform to change its working directory to the 92 given directory before running the given subcommand. This means that any files 93 that Terraform would normally read or write in the current working directory 94 will be read or written in the given directory instead. 95 96 There are two exceptions where Terraform will use the original working directory 97 even when you specify `-chdir=...`: 98 99 * Settings in the [CLI Configuration](/cli/config/config-file) are not for a specific 100 subcommand and Terraform processes them before acting on the `-chdir` 101 option. 102 103 * In case you need to use files from the original working directory as part 104 of your configuration, a reference to `path.cwd` in the configuration will 105 produce the original working directory instead of the overridden working 106 directory. Use `path.root` to get the root module directory. 107 108 ## Shell Tab-completion 109 110 If you use either `bash` or `zsh` as your command shell, Terraform can provide 111 tab-completion support for all command names and some command 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 ## Upgrade and Security Bulletin Checks 130 131 The Terraform CLI commands interact with the HashiCorp service 132 [Checkpoint](https://checkpoint.hashicorp.com/) to check for the availability 133 of new versions and for critical security bulletins about the current version. 134 135 One place where the effect of this can be seen is in `terraform version`, where 136 it is used by default to indicate in the output when a newer version is 137 available. 138 139 Only anonymous information, which cannot be used to identify the user or host, 140 is sent to Checkpoint. An anonymous ID is sent which helps de-duplicate warning 141 messages. Both the anonymous id and the use of checkpoint itself are completely 142 optional and can be disabled. 143 144 Checkpoint itself can be entirely disabled for all HashiCorp products by 145 setting the environment variable `CHECKPOINT_DISABLE` to any non-empty value. 146 147 Alternatively, settings in 148 [the CLI configuration file](/cli/config/config-file) can be used to 149 disable checkpoint features. The following checkpoint-related settings are 150 supported in this file: 151 152 * `disable_checkpoint` - set to `true` to disable checkpoint calls 153 entirely. This is similar to the `CHECKPOINT_DISABLE` environment variable 154 described above. 155 156 * `disable_checkpoint_signature` - set to `true` to disable the use of an 157 anonymous signature in checkpoint requests. This allows Terraform to check 158 for security bulletins but does not send the anonymous signature in these 159 requests. 160 161 [The Checkpoint client code](https://github.com/hashicorp/go-checkpoint) used 162 by Terraform is available for review by any interested party.