{"id":12958,"date":"2026-05-03T08:42:24","date_gmt":"2026-05-03T08:42:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.devopsschool.com\/blog\/?p=12958"},"modified":"2026-05-03T08:42:26","modified_gmt":"2026-05-03T08:42:26","slug":"templating-in-terraform-using-template_file-with-sample-program","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.devopsschool.com\/blog\/templating-in-terraform-using-template_file-with-sample-program\/","title":{"rendered":"Terraform Tutorials: Templating in Terraform"},"content":{"rendered":"\n


Top 10 Templating Engines Across Major Programming Languages<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
#<\/th>Templating Engine<\/th>Programming Language<\/th>Common Framework \/ Ecosystem<\/th>Typical Real Use<\/th><\/tr><\/thead>
1<\/td>Jinja2<\/td>Python<\/td>Flask, Ansible<\/td>HTML generation, configuration templates, automation scripts<\/td><\/tr>
2<\/td>Django Templates (DTL)<\/td>Python<\/td>Django<\/td>Web page rendering in Django applications<\/td><\/tr>
3<\/td>Go Templates (text\/template<\/code>, html\/template<\/code>)<\/td>Go<\/td>Helm, Terraform tools, Kubernetes<\/td>YAML\/HTML templating, Helm charts, infra configs<\/td><\/tr>
4<\/td>Handlebars<\/td>JavaScript<\/td>Node.js, Express<\/td>Dynamic HTML rendering in web applications<\/td><\/tr>
5<\/td>Mustache<\/td>Multi-language<\/td>Node.js, Java, Ruby, Go<\/td>Logic-less templating for config and UI rendering<\/td><\/tr>
6<\/td>EJS (Embedded JavaScript)<\/td>JavaScript<\/td>Express.js<\/td>Server-side HTML rendering<\/td><\/tr>
7<\/td>Twig<\/td>PHP<\/td>Symfony, Drupal<\/td>HTML rendering in PHP frameworks<\/td><\/tr>
8<\/td>Blade<\/td>PHP<\/td>Laravel<\/td>Web UI rendering in Laravel apps<\/td><\/tr>
9<\/td>Thymeleaf<\/td>Java<\/td>Spring Boot<\/td>Server-side HTML templates for Java apps<\/td><\/tr>
10<\/td>Velocity \/ FreeMarker<\/td>Java<\/td>Apache, Spring<\/td>Email templates, config generation, UI rendering<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

In Terraform, the template process refers to the process of using a template engine to dynamically generate configuration files or values based on a set of input parameters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Terraform supports various template engines, including Go’s text\/template<\/code> and html\/template<\/code>, as well as the Jinja2 template engine. These template engines enable you to write dynamic templates with placeholders for values that will be replaced by actual values at runtime.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The template process in Terraform involves the following steps:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \n
  1. Define a template file: Create a template file with placeholders for the values that will be replaced at runtime.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  2. Define variables: Define input variables that will be used to replace the placeholders in the template file.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  3. Use the template engine: Use the templatefile()<\/code> function or template_file<\/code> data source to render the template and generate the final output.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  4. Use the output: Use the generated output in your Terraform configuration, such as passing it to a resource as a value.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n

    The template process is useful for generating dynamic configuration files, such as cloud-init scripts, Kubernetes manifests, and shell scripts, among others. It enables you to generate configuration files based on the specific needs of your environment, without having to hard-code the values in your Terraform configuration.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

    Example – 1<\/h2>\n\n\n\n