HCL Configuration Parser

Warnings

• breaking pyhcl dropped support for Python 2 in version 0.3.0. Users on older Python 2 environments must upgrade their Python version or use pyhcl < 0.3.0.
  Fix: Upgrade Python to 3.6+ or pin pyhcl to a version prior to 0.3.0 (e.g., `pyhcl==0.2.0`).
• breaking The return type of `hcl.load` and `hcl.loads` changed significantly in version 0.2.0. Previously, it returned a custom `hcl.parser.HCL` object; now, it returns a standard Python `dict`. Code expecting the old object structure will break.
  Fix: Update parsing logic to expect and handle a standard Python dictionary. Access data using dictionary methods like `.get()` or `[]`.
• gotcha The primary module for importing is `hcl`, not `pyhcl`. Developers sometimes try `from pyhcl import hcl` or `from pyhcl import load`, which will result in an `ImportError`.
  Fix: Always use `import hcl` to access the parsing functions.
• gotcha While `pyhcl` aims for broad HCL compatibility, it may not perfectly support every nuance or the very latest syntax of the evolving HCL specification, especially complex expressions or new language features introduced in newer HCL versions.
  Fix: For critical or highly complex HCL parsing, validate `pyhcl`'s output against the official HCL parser or actual tool behavior. Consider simpler HCL structures if encountering parsing issues.

Install

• pip install pyhcl Install stable version

Imports

• hcl

  import hcl

Quickstart

Parses an HCL string into a Python dictionary. The `hcl.loads()` function handles string input, while `hcl.load()` is used for file-like objects.

import hcl

hcl_string = '''
variable "region" {
  description = "AWS region"
  type        = string
  default     = "us-east-1"
}

resource "aws_instance" "web" {
  ami           = "ami-0abcdef1234567890"
  instance_type = "t2.micro"
  tags = {
    Name = "HelloWorld"
  }
}
'''

parsed_data = hcl.loads(hcl_string)
print(parsed_data.get('resource'))
print(parsed_data.get('variable'))