Demo Inspecting Terraform State using the CLI

In this lesson you’ll learn how to inspect Terraform state with the Terraform CLI. We’ll focus on two primary commands:

terraform state list — list resource addresses recorded in the state
terraform state show — display detailed attributes for a single resource in the state

Use terraform show (without the state subcommand) to print an entire state file or a saved plan file. Use terraform state show <ADDRESS> when you want details about a single resource recorded in the current state.

Use terraform show to dump a full state or plan file. Use terraform state show <ADDRESS> when you want a focused view of one resource from the current state.

Quick reference — commands

Command	Purpose	Example
`terraform state list`	List all resource addresses tracked in the current state	`terraform state list`
`terraform state show <ADDRESS>`	Show all attributes for a single resource in the state	`terraform state show aws_instance.web`
`terraform show`	Print the entire state or a plan file	`terraform show`

1. List resources in the state

Run terraform state list to see all resource addresses Terraform currently tracks:

$ terraform state list
aws_instance.web
aws_subnet.private
aws_subnet.public
aws_vpc.main
$

Each line is a resource address you can pass to terraform state show for more detail. For example, to inspect the EC2 instance attributes you would use aws_instance.web.

2. Inspect the entire state (terraform show)

terraform show prints the contents of the current state or a plan file. This is useful for a broad overview but can be verbose. Example (truncated):

$ terraform show
# aws_vpc.main:
resource "aws_vpc" "main" {
  cidr_block                          = "10.0.0.0/16"
  enable_dns_support                  = true
  enable_dns_hostnames                = true
  main_route_table_id                 = "rtb-0aaa7cc7dd7e339ec"
  owner_id                            = "603991114860"
  region                              = "us-east-2"
  tags                                = {
    "Environment" = "development"
    "Name"        = "dev-main-vpc"
  }
}
# aws_subnet.public:
resource "aws_subnet" "public" {
  id                                  = "subnet-0a1b2c3d4e5f67890"
  cidr_block                          = "10.0.1.0/24"
  availability_zone                   = "us-east-2a"
  vpc_id                              = "vpc-033b39f7810fce419"
  owner_id                            = "603991114860"
  region                              = "us-east-2"
  tags                                = {
    "Environment" = "development"
    "Name"        = "public-subnet"
  }
}
$

Because terraform show dumps everything, it’s often easier to inspect a single resource with terraform state show.

3. Inspect a single resource (terraform state show)

First run terraform state list to find the exact address you want. Then run:

terraform state show <ADDRESS>

Example: show the EC2 instance aws_instance.web:

$ terraform state show aws_instance.web
# aws_instance.web:
resource "aws_instance" "web" {
  ami                                  = "ami-05efc83cb5512477c"
  arn                                  = "arn:aws:ec2:us-east-2:603991114860:instance/i-07289d6c1b924df1c"
  associate_public_ip_address          = false
  availability_zone                    = "us-east-2a"
  ebs_optimized                        = false
  disable_api_stop                     = false
  disable_api_termination              = false
  get_password_data                    = false
  hibernation                          = false
  id                                   = "i-07289d6c1b924df1c"
  instance_initiated_shutdown_behavior = "stop"
  instance_type                        = "t3.micro"
  placement_partition_number           = 0
  primary_network_interface_id         = "eni-021f0bd1d36d8a756"
  private_dns                          = "ip-10-0-5-245.us-east-2.compute.internal"
  private_ip                           = "10.0.5.245"
  public_dns                           = null
  public_ip                            = null
  region                               = "us-east-2"
  security_groups                      = []
  source_dest_check                    = true
  subnet_id                            = "subnet-0d0fdf0bdf3680113"
  tags                                 = {
    "Environment" = "development"
    "Name"        = "web-server"
  }
  tags_all                             = {
    "Environment" = "development"
    "Name"        = "web-server"
  }
  tenancy                              = "default"
  user_data_replace_on_change          = false
  vpc_security_group_ids               = [
    "sg-0a6bf794da82ceca4",
  ]

  capacity_reservation_specification {
    capacity_reservation_preference = "open"
  }

  cpu_options {
    amd_sev_snp = null
  }
}
$

This output includes every attribute Terraform knows about the instance: AMI, ARN, instance ID, network info, tags, and more. Example: show the private subnet aws_subnet.private:

$ terraform state show aws_subnet.private
# aws_subnet.private:
resource "aws_subnet" "private" {
  id                                  = "subnet-0d0fdf0bdf3680113"
  cidr_block                          = "10.0.5.0/24"
  availability_zone                   = "us-east-2a"
  vpc_id                              = "vpc-033b39f7810fce419"
  owner_id                            = "603991114860"
  region                              = "us-east-2"
  map_public_ip_on_launch             = false
  map_customer_owned_ip_on_launch     = false
  private_dns_hostname_type_on_launch = "ip-name"
  tags                                = {
    "Environment" = "development"
    "Name"        = "main-subnet"
  }
  tags_all                            = {
    "Environment" = "development"
    "Name"        = "main-subnet"
  }
}
$

Use terraform state list to locate the exact address, then terraform state show <address> to retrieve that resource’s details. This is the fastest way to inspect state for a single resource.

Tip: Pipe terraform state list into tools like grep to quickly find resources, for example: terraform state list | grep aws_instance.

Course Introduction

Preparing Your Environment

Terraform Foundations

The Core Terraform Workflow

Terraform CLI

Terraform File Structure and Organization

Terraform Configuration - Fundamentals

Understading and Managing Terraform State

Marking Code Reusable

Refactoring Terraform State

Terraform Modules

Managing Resource Behavior and Dependencies

Securing Terraform Configurations

Terraform Troubleshooting

HCP Terraform

Demo Inspecting Terraform State using the CLI

Quick reference — commands

1. List resources in the state

2. Inspect the entire state (terraform show)

3. Inspect a single resource (terraform state show)

Links and References

Watch Video

​Quick reference — commands

​1. List resources in the state

​2. Inspect the entire state (terraform show)

​3. Inspect a single resource (terraform state show)

​Links and References

Watch Video

Quick reference — commands

1. List resources in the state

2. Inspect the entire state (terraform show)

3. Inspect a single resource (terraform state show)

Links and References