If no outputs were created, what is the quickest way to find a deployed resource's public IP?

The choice of running the terraform state list and show commands is the most effective method for finding a deployed resource's public IP when no outputs have been defined.

When you execute the terraform state list command, it provides an overview of all resources that Terraform is managing within your current workspace. From this list, you can identify the specific resource whose public IP you want to find. Once identified, the terraform state show command can be run on that specific resource. This command will display all the attributes of the resource, including any dynamically assigned values such as the public IP address.

Utilizing the Terraform state commands allows you to access live details about resources directly from the state file, which reflects their current configurations and outputs, even if those outputs were not explicitly defined in your Terraform configuration. This is particularly useful for quickly retrieving information without having to modify or reapply configurations.

While reviewing configuration files or accessing the cloud provider's dashboard could provide information about resources, these methods are generally less efficient compared to using Terraform's built-in commands. The terraform output command specifically retrieves defined output variables, which is not applicable if no outputs are created. Hence, relying on Terraform's commands offers a more direct and efficient route to querying resource states.