Command: state rm
The main function of Terraform state is to track the bindings between resource instance addresses in your configuration and the remote objects they represent. Normally Terraform automatically updates the state in response to actions taken when applying a plan, such as removing a binding for a remote object that has now been deleted.
You can use terraform state rm in the less common situation where you wish
to remove a binding to an existing remote object without first destroying it,
which will effectively make Terraform "forget" the object while it continues
to exist in the remote system.
Note: Terraform v1.7.0 and later supports removed blocks. Unlike the terraform state rm command, you can use removed blocks to remove more than one resource at a time, and you can review removals as part of your normal plan and apply workflow. Learn more about using removed blocks with resources and using removed blocks with modules.
Usage
Usage: terraform state rm [options] ADDRESS...
Terraform will search the state for any instances matching the given resource address, and remove the record of each one so that Terraform will no longer be tracking the corresponding remote objects.
This means that although the objects will still continue to exist in the
remote system, a subsequent
terraform plan
will include an action to create a new object for each of the "forgotten"
instances. Depending on the constraints imposed by the remote system, creating
those objects might fail if their names or other identifiers conflict with
the old objects still present.
This command also accepts the following options:
-dry-run- Report all of the resource instances that match the given address without actually "forgetting" any of them.-lock=false- Don't hold a state lock during the operation. This is dangerous if others might concurrently run commands against the same workspace.-lock-timeout=DURATION- Unless locking is disabled with-lock=false, instructs Terraform to retry acquiring a lock for a period of time before returning an error. The duration syntax is a number followed by a time unit letter, such as "3s" for three seconds.
For configurations using the Terraform Cloud CLI integration or the remote backend
only, terraform state rm
also accepts the option
-ignore-remote-version.
For configurations using
the local state rm only,
terraform state rm also accepts the legacy options
-state, -state-out, and -backup.
Example: Remove all Instances of a Resource
The following example will cause Terraform to "forget" all of the instances
of the packet_device resource named "worker".
A resource that doesn't use count or for_each has only one instance, so
this is also the appropriate syntax to select that single instance.
Example: Remove all Instances of a Resource in a Module
To select a resource that you've defined in a child module you must specify the path of that module as part of the resource address:
Example: Remove all Instances of all Resources in a Module
The following example will cause Terraform to "forget" all of the instances
associated with all resources defined in all instances of the module named
foo:
Example: Remove a Particular Instance of a Resource using count
A resource defined with the count meta-argument
has multiple instances that are each identified by an integer. You can
select a particular instance by including an explicit index in your given
address:
Brackets ([, ]) have a special meaning in some shells, so you may need to
quote or escape the address in order to pass it literally to Terraform.
The above shows the typical quoting syntax for Unix-style shells.
Example: Remove a Particular Instance of a Resource using for_each
A resource defined with the for_each meta-argument
has multiple instances that are each identified by an string. You can
select a particular instance by including an explicit key in your given
address.
However, the syntax for strings includes quotes and the quote symbol often has special meaning in command shells, so you'll need to use the appropriate quoting and/or escaping syntax for the shell you are using. For example:
Unix-style shells, such as on Linux or macOS:
Windows Command Prompt (cmd.exe):
PowerShell: