How to Use -confirm in PowerShell

Question

I\'m trying to take user input and before proceeding I would like get a message on screen and than a confirmation, whether user wants to proceed or not. I\'m using the follo

Answer 1

-Confirm is a switch in most PowerShell cmdlets that forces the cmdlet to ask for user confirmation. What you're actually looking for is the Read-Host cmdlet:

$confirmation = Read-Host "Are you Sure You Want To Proceed:"
if ($confirmation -eq 'y') {
    # proceed
}

or the PromptForChoice() method of the host user interface:

$title    = 'something'
$question = 'Are you sure you want to proceed?'

$choices = New-Object Collections.ObjectModel.Collection[Management.Automation.Host.ChoiceDescription]
$choices.Add((New-Object Management.Automation.Host.ChoiceDescription -ArgumentList '&Yes'))
$choices.Add((New-Object Management.Automation.Host.ChoiceDescription -ArgumentList '&No'))

$decision = $Host.UI.PromptForChoice($title, $question, $choices, 1)
if ($decision -eq 0) {
    Write-Host 'confirmed'
} else {
    Write-Host 'cancelled'
}

---

Edit:

As M-pixel pointed out in the comments the code could be simplified further, because the choices can be passed as a simple string array.

$title    = 'something'
$question = 'Are you sure you want to proceed?'
$choices  = '&Yes', '&No'

$decision = $Host.UI.PromptForChoice($title, $question, $choices, 1)
if ($decision -eq 0) {
    Write-Host 'confirmed'
} else {
    Write-Host 'cancelled'
}

Answer 2

This is a simple loop that keeps prompting unless the user selects 'y' or 'n'

$confirmation = Read-Host "Ready? [y/n]"
while($confirmation -ne "y")
{
    if ($confirmation -eq 'n') {exit}
    $confirmation = Read-Host "Ready? [y/n]"
}

Answer 3

For when you want a 1-liner

while( -not ( ($choice= (Read-Host "May I continue?")) -match "y|n")){ "Y or N ?"}

Answer 4

A slightly prettier function based on Ansgar Wiechers's answer. Whether it's actually more useful is a matter of debate.

function Read-Choice(
   [Parameter(Mandatory)][string]$Message,
   [Parameter(Mandatory)][string[]]$Choices,
   [Parameter(Mandatory)][string]$DefaultChoice,
   [Parameter()][string]$Question='Are you sure you want to proceed?'
) {
    $defaultIndex = $Choices.IndexOf($DefaultChoice)
    if ($defaultIndex -lt 0) {
        throw "$DefaultChoice not found in choices"
    }

    $choiceObj = New-Object Collections.ObjectModel.Collection[Management.Automation.Host.ChoiceDescription]

    foreach($c in $Choices) {
        $choiceObj.Add((New-Object Management.Automation.Host.ChoiceDescription -ArgumentList $c))
    }

    $decision = $Host.UI.PromptForChoice($Message, $Question, $choiceObj, $defaultIndex)
    return $Choices[$decision]
}

Example usage:

PS> $r = Read-Choice 'DANGER!!!!!!' '&apple','&blah','&car' '&blah'

DANGER!!!!!!
Are you sure you want to proceed?
[A] apple  [B] blah  [C] car  [?] Help (default is "B"): c
PS> switch($r) { '&car' { Write-host 'caaaaars!!!!' } '&blah' { Write-Host "It's a blah day" } '&apple' { Write-Host "I'd like to eat some apples!" } }
caaaaars!!!!

Answer 5

I prefer a popup.

$shell = new-object -comobject "WScript.Shell"
$choice = $shell.popup("Insert question here",0,"Popup window title",4+32)

If $choice equals 6, the answer was Yes If $choice equals 7, the answer was No

Answer 6

Here's a solution I've used, similiar to Ansgar Wiechers' solution;

$title = "Lorem"
$message = "Ipsum"

$yes = New-Object System.Management.Automation.Host.ChoiceDescription "&Yes", "This means Yes"
$no = New-Object System.Management.Automation.Host.ChoiceDescription "&No", "This means No"

$options = [System.Management.Automation.Host.ChoiceDescription[]]($yes, $no)

$result = $host.ui.PromptForChoice($title, $message, $Options, 0)

Switch ($result)
     {
          0 { "You just said Yes" }
          1 { "You just said No" }
     }