Terraform Syntax With Examples (original) (raw)

Last Updated : 30 Apr, 2026

Terraform Uses HashiCorp Configuration Language (HCL) which help engineers in designing repeatable and production-ready systems with ease.

• Terraform Eliminates manual provisioning through automated infrastructure management.
• Uses HCL, a human-readable language to define the desired infrastructure state.
• Supports multi-cloud and on-premises deployments with consistent workflows.
• Enables scalable, reliable, and version-controlled infrastructure.

Language Used In Terraform

HashiCorp Configuration Language (HCL) is the DSL (Domain Specific Language) that Terraform uses to create infrastructure resources. HCL is a human-readable language, designed to be easy to understand while still being expressive.

• It is Declarative rather than procedural.
• Supports complex data structures.
• Compatible with JSON.

Terraform Syntax With Examples

Terraform syntax is built around blocks, arguments, and expressions that define infrastructure resources and their configurations. Terraform follows a declarative model, meaning you specify what your infrastructure should look like, and Terraform determines how to achieve that state by building a dependency graph and executing changes in the correct order.

1. Terraform Block Syntax

The terraform block defines project-level settings such as required providers and Terraform version constraints.

terraform {
required_version = ">= 1.5.0"
required_providers {

aws = {

source = "hashicorp/aws"
version = "~> 5.0"

}

}

}

**2. Terraform Resource Block **Syntax

The fundamental building block in Terraform is a resource block. It refers to a single piece of infrastructure that you want to control. Here is an illustration of how to create an AWS EC2 instance:

resource "aws_instance" "gfg-ec2" {
ami = "ami-0c94855ba95c286c99"
instance_type = "t2.micro"
}

In the above code we have used the resource type as "aws_instance" and given it the name "gfg-ec2" and specified the AMI ID and the type of instance we need for it.

**3. Terraform Variable Declaration Syntax

We are able to parameterize our configurations in Terraform with the help of variables, which can make our code much more reusable and adaptable. For example:

variable "region" {
description = "AWS region where the resources will be deployed."
type = string
default = "us-east-1"
}

In the above example, we have created a variable region with a default value of "us-east-1".

**4. Terraform Output Values Syntax

You can extract data from your infrastructure and send it to other configurations or use it as a reference by using Terraform's output values. For example:

output "gfg_instance_ip" {
value = aws_instance.example.public_ip
description = "Public IP of the EC2 instance recently deployed."
}

In the above code, we are trying to get the public ip of our EC2 instance by creating an output named "instance_ip".

**5. Terraform Modules Syntax

We can encapsulate and reuse setups using Terraform modules. They support the creation of reusable components from our infrastructure code. Here is a usage example for a module

module "vpc" {
source = "terraform-aws-modules/vpc/aws"
version = "2.0.1"

name = "my-gfg-vpc"
cidr = "10.0.0.0/16"
}

In the above code, we are creating a VPC and for that, we are using the "terraform-aws-modules/vpc/aws" module from the Terraform Registry. Then we are passing the required parameters inside the block. These examples show the basic syntax and applications of Terraform and HCL. Terraform, however, offers a large selection of resource types, providers, and extra tools like data sources, conditional expressions, and loops.