WhatIf and Confirm support in PowerShell

Introduction

WhatIf and Confirm help you test commands safely before making changes. They prevent mistakes by showing what would happen or asking for approval.

Before deleting files or folders to avoid accidental loss.

When stopping or restarting services to confirm the action.

Before changing system settings to see the impact.

When running scripts that modify important data.

To get a preview of changes without applying them.

Syntax

PowerShell

Cmdlet-Name -WhatIf
Cmdlet-Name -Confirm

-WhatIf shows what the command would do without doing it.

-Confirm asks you to approve each action before it runs.

Examples

This shows what would happen if you delete the file, but does not delete it.

PowerShell

Remove-Item -Path "C:\Temp\file.txt" -WhatIf

This asks you to confirm before stopping the Print Spooler service.

PowerShell

Stop-Service -Name "Spooler" -Confirm

This asks for confirmation before deleting the file.

PowerShell

Remove-Item -Path "C:\Temp\file.txt" -Confirm

Sample Program

This function uses both -WhatIf and -Confirm. -WhatIf takes precedence, so it shows what would happen without prompting for confirmation or performing the action.

PowerShell

function Remove-MyFile {
    param(
        [string]$Path
    )
    Remove-Item -Path $Path -WhatIf -Confirm
}

Remove-MyFile -Path "C:\Temp\example.txt"

Important Notes

Not all cmdlets support -WhatIf and -Confirm. Check the cmdlet help.

You can force confirmation with -Confirm:$true or skip it with -Confirm:$false.

-WhatIf is great for testing scripts safely before running them.

Summary

-WhatIf shows what a command would do without doing it.

-Confirm asks you to approve actions before they happen.

Use them to avoid mistakes and test commands safely.