What Terraform command always causes a state file to be updated with changes that might have been made outside of Terraform?

The correct answer is A. terraform plan -refresh-onlyly. terraform plan -refresh-only (formerly terraform refresh) causes Terraform to query the actual current state of all managed resources and update the state file to match reality - without making any infrastructure changes. This is useful when resources have been modified outside…

Submitted by lukas.cz· Apr 18, 2026Manage Terraform State

Question

What Terraform command always causes a state file to be updated with changes that might have been made outside of Terraform?

Options

Aterraform plan -refresh-onlyly
Bterraform show -json
Cterraform apply -lock-false
Dterraform plan -target-state

How the community answered

(27 responses)

A
93% (25)
B
4% (1)
C
4% (1)

Explanation

terraform plan -refresh-only (formerly terraform refresh) causes Terraform to query the actual current state of all managed resources and update the state file to match reality - without making any infrastructure changes. This is useful when resources have been modified outside of Terraform (configuration drift). The -refresh-only flag was introduced in Terraform 0.15.4 as a safer replacement for the standalone terraform refresh command, which is now deprecated.

Topics

#Terraform CLI#State Management#Drift Detection#Refresh Operations

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