terraform-docs tfvars hcl does not generate tfvars file

[Philbow]

Describe the bug

Running terraform-docs does not produce auto generated tfvars files (but indicates success in output)

How can we reproduce it?

.pre-commit-config.yaml

repos:
  - repo: https://github.com/antonbabenko/pre-commit-terraform
    rev: v1.82.0
    hooks:
      - id: terraform_docs
        name: Generating / updating terraform.tfvars.auto (terraform_docs)
        args:
          - tfvars hcl --output-file terraform.tfvars.auto .

Trigger container

TAG=v1.82.0
docker run -e "USERID=$(id -u):$(id -g)" -v $(pwd):/lint -w /lint ghcr.io/antonbabenko/pre-commit-terraform:$TAG run -a

Output

    Emulate Docker CLI using podman. Create /etc/containers/nodocker to quiet msg.
    [INFO] Initializing environment for https://github.com/antonbabenko/pre-commit-terraform.
    Generating / updating terraform.tfvars.auto (terraform_docs).......................Passed

Directory structure

.
├── README.md
├── bootstrapping_node.puml
├── data.tf
├── locals.tf
├── main.tf
├── outputs.tf
├── precommit.sh   # can be ignored
├── providers.tf
├── templates         # can be ignored
│   ├── metadata.tpl
│   └── userdata.yaml.tpl
└── variables.tf

Additional information

Running terraform-docs binary directly on the same project generates the corresponding file containing all variables (incl. defaults)

terraform-docs tfvars hcl --output-file terraform.tfvars.auto .

Running terraform_docs in .pre-commit-config.yaml to generate markdown works like a charm

repos:
  - repo: https://github.com/antonbabenko/pre-commit-terraform
    rev: v1.82.0
    hooks:
      - id: terraform_docs
        name: Generating / updating README.md (terraform_docs)
        args:
          - --hook-config=--create-file-if-not-exist=true
          - --hook-config=--path-to-file=README.md

Environment information

• OS: Windows 10 (WSL / Podman Desktop)
• Docker image tag: ghcr.io/antonbabenko/pre-commit-terraform:v1.82.0 (official)

[MaxymVlasov]

It is a subset of #179

[Philbow]

@MaxymVlasov : I am not 100% sure why this issue is closed.

Is it because pre-commit-terraform does not support the --output-file parameter?

All other prerequisistes for the linked ticket are already given (terraform-docs uses v0.16.0 and directly executing "terraform-docs tfvars hcl . --output-file test.tfvars" seems to work in the container).

In case this is the issue, may I kindly request to get rid of the official documentation stating the support for tfvars example file generation? This is the corresponding documentation that mentions exactly this command: https://github.com/antonbabenko/pre-commit-terraform/blob/master/README.md?plain=1#L502C14

Side Note / Question
Generation of tfvars files could be also achieved without using the --output-file parameter by piping the stdout to a file.

What I tried was this, but it seems like it is not working (no errors, but file is as well not created). Directly executing the command works fine.

  - id: terraform_docs
    name: Generating / updating terraform.tfvars.auto (terraform_docs)
    args:
      - tfvars hcl . > terraform.tfvars.auto

Any tips on how to get this working?

[MaxymVlasov]

@MaxymVlasov : I am not 100% sure why this issue is closed.

This issue will be resolved during #179 resolution because that problem goes from unmaintainable logic located somewhere in https://github.com/antonbabenko/pre-commit-terraform/blob/master/hooks/terraform_docs.sh

Any tips on how to get this working?

Feel free to submit PR to make #179 live, that's the only possibility which I see here