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about_PSConsoleHostReadLine.md

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description Explains how to customize how PowerShell reads input at the console prompt.
Locale en-US
ms.date 01/09/2025
online version https://learn.microsoft.com/powershell/module/microsoft.powershell.core/about/about_psconsolehostreadline?view=powershell-7.5&WT.mc_id=ps-gethelp
schema 2.0.0
title about_PSConsoleHostReadLine

about_PSConsoleHostReadLine

Short description

Explains how to customize how PowerShell reads input at the console prompt.

Long description

Starting in Windows PowerShell 3.0, you can write a function named PSConsoleHostReadLine that overrides the default way that console input is processed.

This function is extended by the PSReadLine module.

Examples

The following example launches Notepad and gets input from a text file that the user creates:

function PSConsoleHostReadLine {
  $inputFile = Join-Path $Env:TEMP PSConsoleHostReadLine
  Set-Content $inputFile "PS > "

  # Notepad opens. Enter your command in it, save the file, and then exit.
  notepad $inputFile | Out-Null
  $userInput = Get-Content $inputFile
  $resultingCommand = $userInput.Replace("PS >", "")
  $resultingCommand
}

Remarks

By default, PowerShell reads input from the console in what is known as "Cooked Mode" -- in which the Windows console subsystem handles all the keypresses, F7 menus, and other input. When you press Enter or Tab, PowerShell gets the text that you have typed up to that point. There is no way for it to know that you pressed Ctrl+R, Ctrl+A, Ctrl+E, or any other keys before pressing Enter or Tab. In Windows PowerShell 3.0, the PSConsoleHostReadLine function solves this issue. When you define a function named PSConsoleHostReadline in the PowerShell console host, PowerShell calls that function instead of the "Cooked Mode" input mechanism.

See Also