Explaining Data Types in Terraform with the focus on list,map,tuple and object
The aim of this page📝 is to explain data types used in terraform, focusing on complex ones, i.e. collections and structurals, i.e. list, maps, tuples and objects. There are altogether 9 types, with 4 classes with complex class having two subclasses (collection and structural). Please note that I am ignoring the set data type for the time being.
2 min readSep 12, 2023
- The
typekeyword is used in Terraform to declare the type of a variable. - If you do not specify a
typewhen declaring a variable in Terraform, the variable can accept any type of value. - However, it’s considered good practice to specify the
typefor clarity and to ensure the variable is used as intended. - If you want to declare a
tuple/objectvariable, you need to use the type keyword. - This is because a tuple/object is a complex type that can contain elements of different types, and Terraform needs to know the types of each element
Typically used complex > collection types where the values stored are of the identical type
<!-- LIST COLLECTION -->
variable "aws_regions" {
type = list(string)
description = "Regions to use for AWS resources"
default = ["us-east-1", "us-east-2", "us-west-1", "us-west-2"]
}<!-- MAP COLLECTION -->
variable "aws_instance_sizes" {
type = map(string)
description = "instance sizes to use in AWS"
default = {
small = "t3.micro"
medium = "m4.large"
large = "m4.xlarge"
}
}
Exceptionally used complex > structural types, where the values stored can be of various types
- tuple — equivalent to list
- object — equivalent to map
<!-- TUPLE STRUCTURAL TYPE -->
variable "example_tuple" {
type = tuple([string, number, bool])
default = ["acme1", 000, true]
}<!-- OBJECT STRUCTURAL TYPE -->
variable "aws_instance" {
description = "AWS instance configuration"
type = object({
instance_type = string
ami = string
subnet_id = string
tags = map(string)
ebs_optimized = bool
})
default = {
instance_type = "t2.micro"
ami = "ami-0c94855ba95c574c8"
subnet_id = "subnet-0bb1c79de3EXAMPLE"
tags = { Name = "example-instance", Environment = "Test" }
ebs_optimized = false
}
}
resource "aws_instance" "example" {
ami = var.aws_instance.ami
instance_type = var.aws_instance.instance_type
subnet_id = var.aws_instance.subnet_id
ebs_optimized = var.aws_instance.ebs_optimized
tags = var.aws_instance.tags
}
Exceptionally used any
- signal to the collection that you don’t know what type is stored in a collector
list(any)
Null
- absence of a value
- usually used to set
defaultto variable
