Use the Read-Host cmdlet in Windows PowerShell scripts
You can use the Read-Host cmdlet to obtain input from users while a script is running. The request for user input could be a prompt to start the script or based on results from processing that's already happened in the script. For example, after performing a query for Active Directory Domain Services (AD DS) user objects and displaying the number of objects retrieved, the script could prompt a decision on whether to continue or stop. Alternatively, the script could request the specific event ID for which to search. The syntax for the Read-Host cmdlet is:
$answer = Read-Host "How many days"
The previous example stops processing the script and prompts the user with text as follows:
How many days:
At the prompt, the user enters a response and then selects Enter. The response that the user provides is placed in the variable $answer.
When you display text as part of using Read-Host, a colon (:) is always appended to the end of the text. There's no parameter to suppress the behavior. However, if you use Read-Host without displaying text, no colon is displayed. You can combine a Write-Host command with Read-Host to display text and avoid a colon being appended, as the following example depicts:
Write-Host "How many days? " -NoNewline
$answer = Read-Host
Note
Input from Read-Host is limited to 1022 characters.
You can mask the input users enter at the prompt by using the -MaskInput or -AsSecureString parameters. Both parameters cause the characters entered by the user to display as asterisks (*). When -MaskInput is used, the response is collected as a String object. When -AsSecureString is used, the response is collected as a SecureString object. A SecureString object is required for scenarios such as setting passwords, where data shouldn't be stored as clear text in memory.