terraform/website/docs/language/values/index.mdx

---
page_title: Variables and Outputs
description: >-
  An overview of input variables, output values, and local values in Terraform
  language.
---

⚠️⚠️⚠️⚠️⚠️⚠️⚠️⚠️⚠️⚠️⚠️⚠️
> [!IMPORTANT]  
> **Documentation Update:** Product documentation previously located in `/website` has moved to the [`hashicorp/web-unified-docs`](https://github.com/hashicorp/web-unified-docs) repository, where all product documentation is now centralized. Please make contributions directly to `web-unified-docs`, since changes to `/website` in this repository will not appear on developer.hashicorp.com.
⚠️⚠️⚠️⚠️⚠️⚠️⚠️⚠️⚠️⚠️⚠️⚠️


# Variables and Outputs

The Terraform language includes a few kinds of blocks for requesting or
publishing named values.

- [Input Variables](/terraform/language/values/variables) serve as parameters for
  a Terraform module, so users can customize behavior without editing the source.

- [Output Values](/terraform/language/values/outputs) are like return values for a
  Terraform module.

- [Local Values](/terraform/language/values/locals) are a convenience feature for
  assigning a short name to an expression.