6 Terraform Commands

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🌍 Terraform Commands

Command	Purpose	Key Notes
terraform validate	Validate configuration	✔ Syntax & logical checks only❌ No cloud/API calls
terraform fmt	Format code	✔ Auto-fixes indentation & style
terraform show	Show current state	📌 Reads from terraform.tfstate
terraform providers	List providers	✔ Shows source & versions
terraform output	Show outputs	📌 Useful for IDs, ARNs, URLs
terraform apply -refresh-only	Refresh state only	⚠️ Updates state / state file, not .tf
terraform graph	Dependency graph	📌 Visualize resource dependencies

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📌 If you run terraform apply directly

Step	What happens
1️⃣	Terraform refreshes state automatically
2️⃣	Drift is detected
3️⃣	Drifted state compared with .tf
4️⃣	Plan generated to match .tf
5️⃣	Apply → ❌ manual cloud changes reverted

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📌 terraform apply -refresh-only

🔁 Resolution Flow

Step	Action
1️⃣	Manual change detected in cloud
2️⃣	Run terraform apply -refresh-only
3️⃣	State file gets updated
4️⃣	Update .tf files manually
5️⃣	Run terraform plan
6️⃣	Apply only if plan is clean

Refresh state → Fix code → Plan → Apply

✔ When to use -refresh-only

• 📌 You want to inspect & sync drift
• 📌 You don’t want to make infra changes yet
• 📌 You plan to fix .tf manually first

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