Write-Information
Specifies how Windows PowerShell handles information stream data for a command.
Syntax
Write-Information
[-MessageData] <Object>
[[-Tags] <String[]>]
[<CommonParameters>]Description
The Write-Information cmdlet specifies how Windows PowerShell handles information stream data for a command.
Windows PowerShell 5.0 introduces a new, structured information stream (number 6 in Windows PowerShell streams) that you can use to transmit structured data between a script and its callers (or hosting environment).
Write-Information lets you add an informational message to the stream, and specify how Windows PowerShell handles information stream data for a command. Information streams also work for PowerShell.Streams, jobs, scheduled jobs, and workflows.
Note
The information stream does not follow the standard convention of prefixing its messages with "[Stream Name]:". This was intended for brevity and visual cleanliness.
The $InformationPreference preference variable value determines whether the message you provide to Write-Information is displayed at the expected point in a script's operation.
Because the default value of this variable is SilentlyContinue, by default, informational messages are not shown.
If you don't want to change the value of $InformationPreference, you can override its value by adding the InformationAction common parameter to your command.
For more information, see about_Preference_Variables and about_CommonParameters.
Note
Starting in Windows PowerShell 5.0, Write-Host is a wrapper for Write-Information
This allows you to use Write-Host to emit output to the information stream.
This enables the capture or suppression of data written using Write-Host while preserving backwards compatibility.
for more information see Write-Host
Write-Information is also a supported workflow activity.
Examples
Example 1: Write information for Get- results
Get-WindowsFeature -Name p*; Write-Information -MessageData "Got your features!" -InformationAction Continue
Display Name Name Install State
------------ ---- -------------
[ ] Print and Document Services Print-Services Available
[ ] Print Server Print-Server Available
[ ] Distributed Scan Server Print-Scan-Server Available
[ ] Internet Printing Print-Internet Available
[ ] LPD Service Print-LPD-Service Available
[ ] Peer Name Resolution Protocol PNRP Available
[X] Windows PowerShell PowerShellRoot Installed
[X] Windows PowerShell 5.0 PowerShell Installed
[ ] Windows PowerShell 2.0 Engine PowerShell-V2 Removed
[X] Windows PowerShell ISE PowerShell-ISE Installed
Got your features!In this example, you show an informational message, "Got your features!", after running the Get-WindowsFeature command to find all features that have a Name value that starts with 'p'.
Because the $InformationPreference variable is still set to its default, SilentlyContinue, you add the InformationAction parameter to override the $InformationPreference value, and show the message.
The InformationAction value is Continue, which means that your message is shown, but the script or command continues, if it is not yet finished.
Example 2: Write information and tag it
Get-WindowsFeature -Name p*; Write-Information -MessageData "To filter your results for PowerShell, pipe your results to the Where-Object cmdlet." -Tags "Instructions" -InformationAction Continue
Display Name Name Install State
------------ ---- -------------
[ ] Print and Document Services Print-Services Available
[ ] Print Server Print-Server Available
[ ] Distributed Scan Server Print-Scan-Server Available
[ ] Internet Printing Print-Internet Available
[ ] LPD Service Print-LPD-Service Available
[ ] Peer Name Resolution Protocol PNRP Available
[X] Windows PowerShell PowerShellRoot Installed
[X] Windows PowerShell 5.0 PowerShell Installed
[ ] Windows PowerShell 2.0 Engine PowerShell-V2 Removed
[X] Windows PowerShell ISE PowerShell-ISE Installed
To filter your results for PowerShell, pipe your results to the Where-Object cmdlet.In this example, you use Write-Information to let users know they'll need to run another command after they're done running the current command.
The example adds the tag Instructions to the informational message.
After running this command, if you search the information stream for messages tagged Instructions, the message specified here would be among the results.
Example 3: Write information to a file
function Test-Info
{
Get-Process P*
Write-Information "Here you go"
}
Test-Info 6> Info.txtIn this example, you redirect the information stream in the function to a file, Info.txt, by using the code 6>. When you open the Info.txt file, you see the text, "Here you go."
Parameters
-MessageData
Specifies an informational message that you want to display to users as they run a script or command. For best results, enclose the informational message in quotation marks. An example is "Test complete."
| Type: | Object |
| Aliases: | Msg |
| Position: | 0 |
| Default value: | None |
| Required: | True |
| Accept pipeline input: | False |
| Accept wildcard characters: | False |
-Tags
Specifies a simple string that you can use to sort and filter messages that you have added to the information stream with Write-Information.
This parameter works similarly to the Tags parameter in New-ModuleManifest.
| Type: | String[] |
| Position: | 1 |
| Default value: | None |
| Required: | False |
| Accept pipeline input: | False |
| Accept wildcard characters: | False |
Inputs
None
Write-Information does not accept piped input.