Sort Terraform (HCL) file by Resource Block Names using GNU `awk`

tf_vars_sort.awk

#!/usr/bin/env -S awk -f
# https://gist.github.com/yermulnik/7e0cf991962680d406692e1db1b551e6
# Tested with GNU Awk 5.1.0, API: 3.0 (GNU MPFR 4.1.0, GNU MP 6.2.1)
# Usage: /path/to/tf_vars_sort.awk < variables.tf | tee sorted_variables.tf
# Note: "chmod +x /path/to/tf_vars_sort.awk" before use
# No licensing; yermulnik@gmail.com, 2021-2024
{
	# skip blank lines at the beginning of file
	if (!resource_type && length($0) == 0) next

	# pick only known Terraform resource definition block types of the 1st level
	# https://github.com/hashicorp/terraform/blob/main/internal/configs/parser_config.go#L92-L230
	switch ($0) {
		# ex: block_type {
		case /^[[:space:]]*(import|locals|moved|removed|terraform)[[:space:]]+{/:
			resource_type = $1
			resource_ident = resource_type "|" block_counter++
			break
		# ex: block_type type_label name_label {
		case /^[[:space:]]*(data|resource)[[:space:]]+("?[[:alnum:]_-]+"?[[:space:]]+){2}{/:
			resource_type = $1
			resource_subtype = $2
			resource_name = $3
			resource_ident = resource_type "|" resource_subtype "|" resource_name
			break
		# ex: block_type name_label {
		case /^[[:space:]]*(check|module|output|provider|variable)[[:space:]]+"?[[:alnum:]_-]+"?[[:space:]]+{/:
			resource_type = $1
			resource_name = $2
			resource_ident = resource_type "|" resource_name
			break
	}
	arr[resource_ident] = arr[resource_ident] ? arr[resource_ident] RS $0 : $0
} END {
	# exit if there was solely empty input
	# (input consisting of multiple empty lines only, counts in as empty input too)
	if (length(arr) == 0) exit
	# declare empty array (the one to hold final result)
	split("", res)
	# case-insensitive string operations in this block
	# (primarily for the `asort()` call below)
	IGNORECASE = 1
	# sort by `resource_ident` which is a key in our case
	asort(arr)

	# blank-lines-fix each block
	for (item in arr) {
		split(arr[item],new_arr,RS)

		# remove multiple blank lines at the end of resource definition block
		while (length(new_arr[length(new_arr)]) == 0) delete new_arr[length(new_arr)]

		# add one single blank line at the end of the resource definition block
		# so that blocks are delimited with a blank like to align with TF code style
		new_arr[length(new_arr)+1] = RS

		# fill resulting array with data from each resource definition block
		for (line in new_arr) {
			# trim whitespaces at the end of each line in resource definition block
			gsub(/[[:space:]]+$/, "", new_arr[line])
			res[length(res)+1] = new_arr[line]
		}
	}

	# ensure there are no extra blank lines at the beginning and end of data
	while (length(res[1]) == 0) delete res[1]
	while (length(res[length(res)]) == 0) delete res[length(res)]

	# print resulting data to stdout
	for (line in res) {
		print res[line]
	}
}

Just wanted to express my thanks for this. Saves me trouble all the time.

Is it possible to add a -recursive feature?

Do it for every file in my subdirectories as well. Looks like great work and a big value add but can't find the repo in chocolatey or homebrew!

@CGAndrej This script isn't mean to be run on its own, but rather to read from stdin and print result to stdout — this is why a feature to process directories recursively isn't doable.
To achieve your goal you may leverage e.g. find like this:

#!/usr/bin/env bash
set -e # abort on errors

chmod +x /path/to/tf_vars_sort.awk

find path/to/dir/with/tf/files/ -name "*.tf" -print0 | while read -d $'\0' FILE; do
    echo "Processing: $FILE"
    cp "$FILE" "$FILE.bak" # preserve backup of original file
    /path/to/tf_vars_sort.awk < "$FILE" > "${FILE}.sorted"
    mv "${FILE}.sorted" "$FILE" # overwrite original file
done

Hope this helps.

JFYI: recently there was tfsort utility released, which provides the alike functionality, but is written in Golang — https://github.com/AlexNabokikh/tfsort

tfsort utility released, which provides the alike functionality

@yermulnik This awk script supports more than variables.tf and output.tf. I've been unable to use tfsort for regular resource files whereas this works for a greater context.

@yermulnik This awk script supports more than variables.tf and output.tf. I've been unable to use tfsort for regular resource files whereas this works for a greater context.

@camilosantana Glad to hear this script makes value 👍

Still works, macos Sonoma 14.2.1, GNU Awk 5.3.0, API 4.0, (GNU MPFR 4.2.1, GNU MP 6.3.0), just needed to change awk to 'gawk' in the first line of the script. https://formulae.brew.sh/formula/gawk

#!/usr/bin/env -S gawk -f
...

Wasn't working for "resource" blocks. Until I added break statements to the end of each case! https://www.gnu.org/software/gawk/manual/gawk.html#Break-Statement

Wasn't working for "resource" blocks. Until I added break statements to the end of each case!

@perkerk Thanks for pointing this out.
I've just updated this gist with break in each case statement.
And also added more 1st-level block types.