PowerShell equivalent to Linux for user input

Question

In a Linux shell script called hello.sh for example, you can take input in the following manner:

$name = $1
$Age = $2

echo "Hi $name!"
echo "You are $age years old!"

And one would execute this script on the Linux command line as the following:

./hello.sh Bob 99

Is there an equivalent way to take input in the script in PowerShell in this manner?

I have only seen Read-Host, but this prompts the user for input after the Powershell script has executed. I would like to call the script with the required input parameters on the command line.

like this: http://stackoverflow.com/questions/1293907/how-to-pass-command-line-arguments-to-a-powershell-ps1-file — in need of help, Jul 03 '14 at 14:50

score 4 · Accepted Answer · answered Jul 03 '14 at 14:50

4

Yes, here is a parameterized script:

[CmdletBinding()]
param (
      [string] $Name
    , [int] $Age
)

Write-Host -Object "Hi $Name!","You are $Age years old!";

Then, to call the script:

.\test.ps1 -Name Trevor -Age 28;

answered Jul 03 '14 at 14:50

Thanks for the response! Is there a way to take input and not have to indicate the variable types like in linux? – Index Hacker Jul 04 '14 at 18:38
Yeah, you don't have to declare named parameters, if you don't want to. You can use `$args[0]` and `$args[1]` instead. :) – Jul 05 '14 at 18:13

score 1 · Answer 2 · edited Dec 27 '14 at 13:40

1

Another option that is perhaps more similar in nature to the Linux example is:

$name = $args[0]
$Age  = $args[1]
echo "Hi $name!"
echo "You are $age years old!"

I am just trying to show the gap isn't so great here. Note: echo is an alias for Write-Output. Folks tend to prefer to use that over Write-Host whose output can't be captured or redirected.

edited Dec 27 '14 at 13:40

Peter Mortensen

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answered Jul 03 '14 at 17:36

Keith Hill

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Does this method store input variables in an array? That's what I'm inferring from $args[0], $args[1]. – Index Hacker Jul 08 '14 at 14:47
1

@blah Yes. Any input arguments not bound to a defined parameter are stashed into the $args array. – Keith Hill Jul 08 '14 at 15:40

PowerShell equivalent to Linux for user input

2 Answers2