![Forrest logo](/images/logo.png)
choice:tldr:0162c
The "choice" command is a Windows command prompt command used to prompt the user to select from a list of options. It displays a message with a specified set of options and waits for the user to input a choice. Once the user selects an option, the chosen option's index value is returned by the command.
The syntax for the choice command is as follows:
choice [/c options] [/n] [/t timeout] [/d default] [/m message]
Here are the available options for customizing the behavior of the command:
-
/c options
: Defines the set of options for the prompt. The options must be a string of characters enclosed in double quotation marks (""). For example,/c "yn"
specifies the options "y" and "n". -
/n
: Used to bypass the prompt and immediately return the default choice. This is helpful when automating a script that does not require user interaction. -
/t timeout
: Sets the timeout period, in seconds, before the default option is selected if the user does not provide any input. For example,/t 10
sets a 10-second timeout. -
/d default
: Specifies the default choice if the user does not provide any input before the timeout. The default option must be included in the set of options defined by/c
. -
/m message
: Defines the prompt message displayed to the user. The message must be enclosed in double quotation marks ("").
Once the user selects an option, the chosen option's index value (1-based) is stored in the ERRORLEVEL environment variable. This allows you to use conditional statements or scripts to perform different actions based on the selected option.