github.com/rstandt/terraform@v0.12.32-0.20230710220336-b1063613405c/website/docs/configuration/functions/pathexpand.html.md (about) 1 --- 2 layout: "functions" 3 page_title: "pathexpand - Functions - Configuration Language" 4 sidebar_current: "docs-funcs-file-pathexpand" 5 description: |- 6 The pathexpand function expands a leading ~ character to the current user's 7 home directory. 8 --- 9 10 # `pathexpand` Function 11 12 -> **Note:** This page is about Terraform 0.12 and later. For Terraform 0.11 and 13 earlier, see 14 [0.11 Configuration Language: Interpolation Syntax](../../configuration-0-11/interpolation.html). 15 16 `pathexpand` takes a filesystem path that might begin with a `~` segment, 17 and if so it replaces that segment with the current user's home directory 18 path. 19 20 This function works only with the path string and does not access the 21 filesystem itself. It is therefore unable to take into account filesystem 22 features such as symlinks. 23 24 If the leading segment in the path is not `~` then the given path is returned 25 unmodified. 26 27 Using this function in resource arguments will cause spurious diffs if the 28 same configuration is run by multiple users with different home directory 29 paths, or used on different host operating systems. We recommend using this 30 function only for transient values, such as in `connection` and `provisioner` 31 blocks to locate SSH keys, etc. 32 33 The rules for determining the "home directory" for the current user vary 34 depending on host operating system. 35 36 **For Unix systems**, the following sources are consulted, in order of preference: 37 38 * The `HOME` environment variable. 39 * The result of running `getent passwd` followed by the Terraform process uid. 40 * The result of running `cd && pwd` in `sh`. 41 42 **For Windows systems**, there is not really the concept of a home directory 43 in the same sense as on Unix, but the following sources are consulted in 44 order of preference: 45 46 * The `HOME` environment variable. 47 * The `HOMEDRIVE` and `HOMEPATH` environment variables, if both are set. 48 * The `USERPROFILE` environment variable. 49 50 The exact rules employed for each operating system may change in future 51 releases of Terraform. 52 53 ## Examples 54 55 ``` 56 > pathexpand("~/.ssh/id_rsa") 57 /home/steve/.ssh/id_rsa 58 > pathexpand("/etc/resolv.conf") 59 /etc/resolv.conf 60 ```