Read-Host
SYNOPSIS
Reads a line of input from the console.
SYNTAX
AsString (Default)
Read-Host [[-Prompt] <Object>] [-MaskInput] [<CommonParameters>]
AsSecureString
Read-Host [[-Prompt] <Object>] [-AsSecureString] [<CommonParameters>]
DESCRIPTION
The `Read-Host` cmdlet reads a line of input from the console (stdin). You can use it to prompt a user for input. Because you can save the input as a secure string, you can use this cmdlet to prompt users for secure data, such as passwords.
> [!NOTE] > `Read-Host` has a limit of 1022 characters it can accept as input from a user.
EXAMPLES
Example 1: Save console input to a variable
$Age = Read-Host "Please enter your age"
Example 2: Save console input as a secure string
$pwd_secure_string = Read-Host "Enter a Password" -AsSecureString
Example 3: Mask input and as a plaintext string
$pwd_string = Read-Host "Enter a Password" -MaskInput
PARAMETERS
-AsSecureString
Indicates that the cmdlet displays asterisks (`*`) in place of the characters that the user types as input. When you use this parameter, the output of the `Read-Host` cmdlet is a SecureString object ( System.Security.SecureString ).
Type: System.Management.Automation.SwitchParameter
Parameter Sets: AsSecureString
Aliases:
Required: False
Position: Named
Default value: False
Accept pipeline input: False
Accept wildcard characters: False
-MaskInput
Indicates that the cmdlet displays asterisks (`*`) in place of the characters that the user types as input. When you use this parameter, the output of the `Read-Host` cmdlet is a String object. This allows you to safely prompt for a password that is returned as plaintext instead of SecureString .
Type: System.Management.Automation.SwitchParameter
Parameter Sets: AsString
Aliases:
Required: False
Position: Named
Default value: False
Accept pipeline input: False
Accept wildcard characters: False
-Prompt
Specifies the text of the prompt. Type a string. If the string includes spaces, enclose it in quotation marks. PowerShell appends a colon (`:`) to the text that you enter.
Type: System.Object
Parameter Sets: (All)
Aliases:
Required: False
Position: 0
Default value: None
Accept pipeline input: False
Accept wildcard characters: False
CommonParameters
This cmdlet supports the common parameters: -Debug, -ErrorAction, -ErrorVariable, -InformationAction, -InformationVariable, -OutVariable, -OutBuffer, -PipelineVariable, -Verbose, -WarningAction, and -WarningVariable. For more information, see about_CommonParameters.
INPUTS
None
This cmdlet does not accept input from the PowerShell pipeline.
OUTPUTS
System.String or System.Security.SecureString
If the AsSecureString parameter is used, `Read-Host` returns a SecureString . Otherwise, it returns a string.
NOTES
This cmdlet only reads from the stdin stream of the host process. Usually, the stdin stream is connected to the keyboard of the host console.