diff --git a/internal/command/meta_vars.go b/internal/command/meta_vars.go
index 6f6c15dbb5..0da03614a6 100644
--- a/internal/command/meta_vars.go
+++ b/internal/command/meta_vars.go
@@ -85,117 +85,6 @@ func (m *Meta) collectVariableValuesForTests(testsFilePath string) (map[string]a
 	return ret, diags
 }
 
-// collectVariableValues inspects the various places that root module input variable
-// values can come from and constructs a map ready to be passed to the
-// backend as part of a backendrun.Operation.
-//
-// This method returns diagnostics relating to the collection of the values,
-// but the values themselves may produce additional diagnostics when finally
-// parsed.
-func (m *Meta) collectVariableValues() (map[string]arguments.UnparsedVariableValue, tfdiags.Diagnostics) {
-	var diags tfdiags.Diagnostics
-	ret := map[string]arguments.UnparsedVariableValue{}
-
-	// First we'll deal with environment variables, since they have the lowest
-	// precedence.
-	{
-		env := os.Environ()
-		for _, raw := range env {
-			if !strings.HasPrefix(raw, VarEnvPrefix) {
-				continue
-			}
-			raw = raw[len(VarEnvPrefix):] // trim the prefix
-
-			eq := strings.Index(raw, "=")
-			if eq == -1 {
-				// Seems invalid, so we'll ignore it.
-				continue
-			}
-
-			name := raw[:eq]
-			rawVal := raw[eq+1:]
-
-			ret[name] = unparsedVariableValueString{
-				str:        rawVal,
-				name:       name,
-				sourceType: terraform.ValueFromEnvVar,
-			}
-		}
-	}
-
-	// Next up we have some implicit files that are loaded automatically
-	// if they are present. There's the original terraform.tfvars
-	// (DefaultVarsFilename) along with the later-added search for all files
-	// ending in .auto.tfvars.
-	if _, err := os.Stat(DefaultVarsFilename); err == nil {
-		moreDiags := m.addVarsFromFile(DefaultVarsFilename, terraform.ValueFromAutoFile, ret)
-		diags = diags.Append(moreDiags)
-	}
-	const defaultVarsFilenameJSON = DefaultVarsFilename + ".json"
-	if _, err := os.Stat(defaultVarsFilenameJSON); err == nil {
-		moreDiags := m.addVarsFromFile(defaultVarsFilenameJSON, terraform.ValueFromAutoFile, ret)
-		diags = diags.Append(moreDiags)
-	}
-	if infos, err := ioutil.ReadDir("."); err == nil {
-		// "infos" is already sorted by name, so we just need to filter it here.
-		for _, info := range infos {
-			name := info.Name()
-			if !isAutoVarFile(name) {
-				continue
-			}
-			moreDiags := m.addVarsFromFile(name, terraform.ValueFromAutoFile, ret)
-			diags = diags.Append(moreDiags)
-		}
-	}
-
-	// Finally we process values given explicitly on the command line, either
-	// as individual literal settings or as additional files to read.
-	for _, flagNameValue := range m.variableArgs.AllItems() {
-		switch flagNameValue.Name {
-		case "-var":
-			// Value should be in the form "name=value", where value is a
-			// raw string whose interpretation will depend on the variable's
-			// parsing mode.
-			raw := flagNameValue.Value
-			eq := strings.Index(raw, "=")
-			if eq == -1 {
-				diags = diags.Append(tfdiags.Sourceless(
-					tfdiags.Error,
-					"Invalid -var option",
-					fmt.Sprintf("The given -var option %q is not correctly specified. Must be a variable name and value separated by an equals sign, like -var=\"key=value\".", raw),
-				))
-				continue
-			}
-			name := raw[:eq]
-			rawVal := raw[eq+1:]
-			if strings.HasSuffix(name, " ") {
-				diags = diags.Append(tfdiags.Sourceless(
-					tfdiags.Error,
-					"Invalid -var option",
-					fmt.Sprintf("Variable name %q is invalid due to trailing space. Did you mean -var=\"%s=%s\"?", name, strings.TrimSuffix(name, " "), strings.TrimPrefix(rawVal, " ")),
-				))
-				continue
-			}
-			ret[name] = unparsedVariableValueString{
-				str:        rawVal,
-				name:       name,
-				sourceType: terraform.ValueFromCLIArg,
-			}
-
-		case "-var-file":
-			moreDiags := m.addVarsFromFile(flagNameValue.Value, terraform.ValueFromNamedFile, ret)
-			diags = diags.Append(moreDiags)
-
-		default:
-			// Should never happen; always a bug in the code that built up
-			// the contents of m.variableArgs.
-			diags = diags.Append(fmt.Errorf("unsupported variable option name %q (this is a bug in Terraform)", flagNameValue.Name))
-		}
-	}
-
-	return ret, diags
-}
-
 func (m *Meta) addVarsFromFile(filename string, sourceType terraform.ValueSourceType, to map[string]arguments.UnparsedVariableValue) tfdiags.Diagnostics {
 	var diags tfdiags.Diagnostics