PowerShell is complete scripting and programming language which provides the user input command Read-Host . The Read-Host can get the user input in different ways like a prompt, secure password, or mask input. In this tutorial, we examine how to use different attributes of the Read-Host command.
User Input with Read-Host Command
The Read-Host command can read interactive user input via the PowerShell command line interface and assign the input value into a variable. In the following example, we read user input and assign the variable named $name .
$name = Read-Host
Write-Host $name
User Input with Prompt
In different scenarios, we may get multiple inputs from users. Or we may need to explain every input to the user before getting it. The -Prompt option can be used to provide an explanation to the user for the input.
$name = Read-Host -Prompt "Please enter your name:"
Write-Host $nameSecure Password Input
PowerShell provides the System.Security.SecureString type in order to store sensitive information like passwords etc. in a secure way. A user may input a password by using the Read-Host in a secure way. By using the -AsSecureString provided input is stored as SecureString type. The input is displayed in a masked format.
$password = Read-Host -AsSecureString "Please enter password"
Write-Host $passwordMask Input
By default, user input is directly displayed on the PowerShell interactive interface or command line interface. Masking is a good method to hide input. The -MaskInput option is used to mask user input. Every character is displayed as * .
$username= Read-Host -MaskIInput "Please enter username"
Write-Host $username