> For the complete documentation index, see [llms.txt](https://notes.nomanaziz.me/llms.txt). Markdown versions of documentation pages are available by appending `.md` to page URLs; this page is available as [Markdown](https://notes.nomanaziz.me/devops/infrastructure-as-a-code-iac/terraform/11.-meta-arguments.md).

# 11. Meta-Arguments

### depends\_on

* If two resources depend on each other (but not on each others data), depends\_on specifies that dependency to enforce ordering

***

### count

* allows for creation of multiple resources/modules from a single block
* usefil when multiple necessary resources are nearly identical
* example is 4 ec2 instances with tag name as `${count.index}`

***

### for\_each

* allows for creation of multiple resources/modules from single block
* allows more control to customize each resource than count

```hcl
locals {
  subnet_ids = toset([
    "subnet-123",
	  "subnet-456",
  ])
}

resource "aws_instance" "server" {
  for_each = local.subnet_ids

  ami = "aaa1"
  instance_type = "t2.micro"
  subnet_id = each.key

  tags = {
    Name = "Server ${each.key}"
  }
}
```

***

### lifecycle

* set of meta atguments to control terraform behaviour for specific resources
* `create_before_destroy` can help with zero downtime deployments
* `ignore_changes` prevents terraform from trying to revert metadata being set elsewhere
* `prevent_destroy` causes terraform to reject any plan which would destroy the resource

```hcl
resource "aws_instance" "server" {
  ami = "aaa1"
  instance_type = "t2.micro"

	lifecycle {
	  create_before_destroy = true
	  ignore_changes = [
	    # Some resources have metadata
		  # modified automatically outside
		  # of Terraform
		  tags
	  ]
	}
}
```

***