random_string doesn't create correct length

[LeBaronDeCharlus]

Terraform CLI and Provider Versions

./terraform -v && ./terraform init --upgrade
Terraform v1.9.6
on linux_amd64
+ provider registry.terraform.io/hashicorp/random v3.6.3
Initializing the backend...
Initializing provider plugins...
- Finding latest version of hashicorp/random...
- Using previously-installed hashicorp/random v3.6.3

Terraform has been successfully initialized!

Terraform Configuration

resource "random_string" "random" {
  length  = 32
  special = false
}

output "random_string" {
  value = random_string.random.result
}

Expected Behavior

Length should be the exact amount of characters defined in length arg.

Actual Behavior

While asking for a specific number, it creates an unwanted additional one.
If we ask for 30, we get 31 (29 => 30, 28 => 29 etc)

Steps to Reproduce

1. terraform init
2. terraform apply | tail -1 | cut -d '"' -f 2| wc

How much impact is this issue causing?

High

Logs

https://gist.github.com/LeBaronDeCharlus/147648c236408cf6c526522af4a5fe2f

Additional Information

No response

Code of Conduct

• I agree to follow this project's Code of Conduct

[austinvalle]

Hey there @LeBaronDeCharlus 👋🏻,

I believe since you're directly processing the human-readable CLI output, it's also receiving a newline character. (wc has a count for the newline character)

You could trim that with something like tr: terraform apply | tail -1 | cut -d '"' -f 2 | tr -d '\n' | wc

We typically recommend using one the machine-readable JSON output for external processes, which I think may be an easier path, for example:

$ terraform output -json

{
  "random_string": {
    "sensitive": false,
    "type": "string",
    "value": "<your random string here>"
  }
}