use default = null instead of default = "" in variables where possible #755

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1. matifali commented on Feb 24, 2026

   

   matifali

   on Feb 24, 2026

   Last edited by matifali

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   @DevelopmentCats and I recently discussed this and even considered adding a lint rule to prevent it.

   👀React with 👀1Reacted by DevCats
2. matifali

   added the

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   issue type on Feb 24, 2026
3. phorcys420 commented on Feb 24, 2026

   

   phorcys420

   on Feb 24, 2026

   Last edited by phorcys420

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   good idea, we can make the lint and then proceed to fix it, we will have to be careful to edit the associated ternary statements though (there's var.something != "" ? var.something : "" everywhere)

   ---

   we should also consider switching to try(var.something, "") instead, it is cleaner.
   (there is also coalesce, but we can't use it for a fallback to an empty string because coalesce takes any number of arguments and returns the first one that isn't null or an empty string.)

   for example:

     url = join("", [
       var.protocol,
       "://coder.coder-remote/open",
       "?owner=",
       data.coder_workspace_owner.me.name,
       "&workspace=",
       data.coder_workspace.me.name,
   -   var.folder != "" ? join("", ["&folder=", var.folder]) : "",
   +   # this would be fine, because passing "&folder=" if the folder variable is empty or null then that works
   +   join("", ["&folder=", try(var.folder, "")]),
       var.open_recent ? "&openRecent" : "",
       "&url=",
       data.coder_workspace.me.access_url,
       "&token=$SESSION_TOKEN",
     ])

   there are also other ways we could just handle null cases better since it is null and not an empty string.
   some good examples here: https://www.codeterraform.com/post/successfully-deal-with-terraforms-null-value
4. DevelopmentCats

   added a commit that references this issue on Jun 8, 2026

   refactor(vault-cli): use default = null instead of default = "" for v…

   ...

   dc1fd65
5. matifali

   assigned

   matifali

   and unassigned

   matifali

   on Jun 19, 2026
6. phorcys420

   self-assigned this

   on Sep 23, 2026