Explaining Terraform Output Variables
The aim of this page📝 is to explain outputs in terraform. Outputs are one of the three variable types in Terraform, the other 2 being input variables and locals.
1 min readSep 19, 2023
outputs have 3 basic properties: printed at the end; stored in terraform state files; exposed in module
- outputs are printed to the terminal window at the end of the configuration run
- terraform stores output values in the state data
- output data is used to expose values when a configuration is placed in a module
output syntax is a combination of output keyword with 2 requirements: <name_label> and <value>
""" SYNTAX """
output <name_label> {
# required
value = <value>
# optional
description = <string>
sensitive = <bool>
}- the value of output can be any terraform-supported data type
descriptionis the best practicesensitive- the value will not be printed to the terminal, used for secrets
same as for variables and locals, outputs deserve its own file, usually called outputs.tf
- add
outputs.tfinto the tf config directory
# outputs.tf
output "public_dns_hostname" {
value = "http://${aws_instance.nginx1.public_dns}"
description = "Public DNS hostname of web server"
}- After running terraform apply, you’ll get the values of
outputat the very end of the output
#...logs
Apply complete! Resources: 7 added, 0 changed, 0 destroyed.
Outputs:
public_dns_hostname = "http://ec2-3-79-190-56.eu-central-1.compute.amazonaws.com"
