v1.5.7/website/docs/language/functions/type.mdx

---
page_title: type - Functions - Configuration Language
description: 'The type function returns the type of a given value. '
---

# `type` Function

-> **Note:** This function is available only in Terraform 1.0 and later.

`type` returns the type of a given value.

Sometimes a Terraform configuration can result in confusing errors regarding
inconsistent types. This function displays terraform's evaluation of a given
value's type, which is useful in understanding this error message.

This is a special function which is only available in the `terraform console`
command. It can only be used to examine the type of a given value, and should
not be used in more complex expressions.

## Examples

Here we have a conditional `output` which prints either the value of `var.list` or a local named `default_list`:

```hcl
variable "list" {
  default = []
}

locals {
  default_list = [
    {
      foo = "bar"
      map = { bleep = "bloop" }
    },
    {
      beep = "boop"
    },
  ]
}

output "list" {
  value = var.list != [] ? var.list : local.default_list
}
```

Applying this configuration results in the following error:

```
Error: Inconsistent conditional result types

  on main.tf line 18, in output "list":
  18:   value = var.list != [] ? var.list : local.default_list
    |----------------
    | local.default_list is tuple with 2 elements
    | var.list is empty tuple

The true and false result expressions must have consistent types. The given
expressions are tuple and tuple, respectively.
```

While this error message does include some type information, it can be helpful
to inspect the exact type that Terraform has determined for each given input.
Examining both `var.list` and `local.default_list` using the `type` function
provides more context for the error message:

```
> type(var.list)
tuple
> type(local.default_list)
tuple([
    object({
        foo: string,
        map: object({
            bleep: string,
        }),
    }),
    object({
        beep: string,
    }),
])
```