title: inherit terraform .tf file from a parent directory
body: <p>terraform==0.12.28</p>
  <p>The goal is to inherit a terraform .tf file from an upstream directory.  I've been following this <a href="https://github.com/morgante/deployment-example/blob/master/deployments/networking/dev/variables.tf" rel="nofollow noreferrer">repo</a> that shows that it's possible by just stating the relative upstream file path within a .tf file. Although when I run</p>
  <ol>
  <li><code>terraform init</code> only within the cwd</li>
  <li><code>terraform init</code> within the parent directory and then the cwd</li>
  </ol>
  <p>Both attempts output the error:</p>
  <pre><code>Error: Argument or block definition required
  
  on shared_data.tf line 1:
     1: ../../shared_data.tf
  </code></pre>
  <p>To combat this error I've tried using a terraform variable to define the relative path first:</p>
  <pre><code>variable &quot;shared_data_path&quot; {
      default = &quot;../../shared_data.tf&quot;
  }
  var.shared_data_path
  </code></pre>
  <p>Which outputs the error:</p>
  <pre><code>Error: Argument or block definition required
  
    on shared_data.tf line 4:
    4: var.shared_data_path
  
  An argument or block definition is required here. To set an argument, use the
  equals sign &quot;=&quot; to introduce the argument value.
  </code></pre>