hashicorp/terraform · error

Too many command line arguments. Did you mean to use -chdir?

Error message

Too many command line arguments. Did you mean to use -chdir?

What it means

Returned at workspace_list.go:39 when 'terraform workspace list' is invoked with any positional arguments. The command takes no positional arguments; historically there was a DIR argument that was replaced by the global -chdir flag. The error message suggests -chdir to guide users who may be relying on the old behavior.

Solutions

1. Use the -chdir global flag: 'terraform -chdir=/path/to/dir workspace list'.
2. Omit positional arguments entirely: 'terraform workspace list'.
3. cd into the target directory before running the command.

Example fix

// before
terraform workspace list /path/to/config
// error: Too many command line arguments. Did you mean to use -chdir?

// after
terraform -chdir=/path/to/config workspace list

// Use -chdir instead of positional args for workspace list:
// exec.Command("terraform", "-chdir="+dir, "workspace", "list")

When it happens

Trigger: Running 'terraform workspace list .' or 'terraform workspace list /path/to/dir'. workspace_list.go:37-38 checks 'len(args) != 0' after flag parsing and appends this error.

Common situations: Users upgrading from very old terraform versions where 'workspace list' accepted a directory; muscle memory from 'terraform env list'; confusion about where to specify the working directory.

Related errors

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• errInitCopyNotEmpty

AI-assisted analysis of hashicorp/terraform@d32a084675 (2026-08-11). Data as JSON: /api/errors/619a7918c7a498df. Report an issue: GitHub.

Appendix: source

Thrown at internal/command/arguments/workspace_list.go:39

	var diags tfdiags.Diagnostics

	var jsonOutput bool
	cmdFlags := defaultFlagSet("workspace list")
	cmdFlags.BoolVar(&jsonOutput, "json", false, "produce JSON output")

	if err := cmdFlags.Parse(args); err != nil {
		diags = diags.Append(tfdiags.Sourceless(
			tfdiags.Error,
			"Failed to parse command-line flags",
			err.Error(),
		))
	}

	// `workspace list` takes no positional arguments. Historically there was a DIR argument that was replaced with the -chdir flag.
	// Here we replicate the old behaviour of suggesting the user to use -chdir if they provide any positional arguments.
	args = cmdFlags.Args()
	if len(args) != 0 {
		diags = diags.Append(errors.New("Too many command line arguments. Did you mean to use -chdir?"))
	}

	switch {
	case jsonOutput:
		return &WorkspaceList{Workspace: Workspace{ViewType: ViewJSON}}, diags
	default:
		return &WorkspaceList{Workspace: Workspace{ViewType: ViewHuman}}, diags
	}
}

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