8. User Interaction & Menus

What & why

Interactive scripts — installers, admin tools, "pick an environment" prompts — need to read choices reliably and re-prompt on bad input. Batch gives you set /p (free text) and choice (single keypress with validation). Building a solid menu loop is a rite of passage.

set /p — a line of text

set "name="
set /p "name=Your name: "
if not defined name (
    echo Name is required.
    exit /b 1
)
echo Hello, %name%.

Remember: on empty Enter, set /p keeps the variable's previous value — so clear it first (set "name=") and then check if defined.

set /p from a file (read one line)

set /p "firstline=" < data.txt
echo First line is: %firstline%

set /p is not safe for secrets

The typed text is visible on screen. There's no masked input in pure batch. For passwords, call PowerShell:

for /F "usebackq delims=" %%p in (`powershell -NoProfile -Command "$p=Read-Host -AsSecureString; [Runtime.InteropServices.Marshal]::PtrToStringAuto([Runtime.InteropServices.Marshal]::SecureStringToBSTR($p))"`) do set "pw=%%p"

(Even then the value ends up in a plain variable — avoid handling secrets in batch at all where you can.)

choice — one validated keypress

choice /C YN /M "Proceed"
if errorlevel 2 goto :no
if errorlevel 1 goto :yes

choice sets errorlevel to the 1-based position of the chosen letter in /C. Test high to low.

Switch	Meaning
/C ABC	valid keys (default YN)
/M "text"	prompt message
/N	don't show the [A,B,C]? list
/CS	case-sensitive
/D A	default key if /T expires
/T 10	timeout in seconds (needs /D)

choice /C YNC /N /M "Deploy to [Y]es / [N]o / [C]ancel? "
if errorlevel 3 ( echo Cancelled & exit /b 1 )
if errorlevel 2 ( echo Skipped   & goto next )
if errorlevel 1 ( echo Deploying & call :deploy )

Note

choice is a real executable (choice.exe), present on Windows 7+. On ancient systems you'd fake it with set /p + validation.

Timeout example (unattended-friendly):

choice /C YN /D N /T 30 /M "Auto-continue in 30s"
if errorlevel 2 exit /b 1

A robust menu loop

@echo off
setlocal EnableExtensions

:menu
cls
echo ============================
echo   Maintenance Menu
echo ============================
echo   1. Clear temp files
echo   2. Restart service
echo   3. Show disk usage
echo   Q. Quit
echo.

choice /C 123Q /N /M "Choose: "
set "sel=%errorlevel%"

if %sel%==4 goto :quit
if %sel%==1 ( call :clear_temp   & pause & goto :menu )
if %sel%==2 ( call :restart_svc  & pause & goto :menu )
if %sel%==3 ( call :disk_usage   & pause & goto :menu )
goto :menu

:quit
echo Bye.
exit /b 0

:clear_temp
    echo Clearing %TEMP% ...
    rem del /q "%TEMP%\*" 2>nul
    goto :eof

:restart_svc
    echo (would restart the service)
    goto :eof

:disk_usage
    wmic logicaldisk get caption,freespace,size 2>nul
    goto :eof

Why choice over set /p here: it rejects invalid keys automatically, needs no Enter, and can't be empty. The set "sel=%errorlevel%" snapshot avoids %errorlevel% shifting under you.

The set /p menu variant (when you need multi-char options)

:menu
set "sel="
set /p "sel=Choose an action (add / remove / list / quit): "
if /i "%sel%"=="quit" goto :quit
if /i "%sel%"=="add"    ( call :add    & goto :menu )
if /i "%sel%"=="remove" ( call :remove & goto :menu )
if /i "%sel%"=="list"   ( call :list   & goto :menu )
echo Unknown option: "%sel%"
goto :menu

Confirmations for dangerous actions

:confirm_delete
    choice /C YN /N /M "Really delete %count% files? This cannot be undone. [y/n] "
    if errorlevel 2 ( echo Aborted. & exit /b 1 )
    rem proceed...

For extra friction (type the word):

set "typed="
set /p "typed=Type DELETE to confirm: "
if /i not "%typed%"=="DELETE" ( echo Aborted. & exit /b 1 )

Pausing and "press any key"

pause                          &rem "Press any key to continue . . ."
pause >nul                     &rem same, but silent
timeout /t 5                   &rem wait 5s, or any key
timeout /t 5 /nobreak          &rem wait 5s, ignore keypresses
timeout /t 5 /nobreak >nul     &rem ...silently

timeout fails if stdin is redirected (e.g. in some CI) — use ping -n 6 127.0.0.1 >nul as a portable "sleep 5."

Common mistakes

• Not clearing the variable before set /p — stale value on empty Enter.
• Testing choice errorlevels low-to-high — if errorlevel 1 catches everything. Go high-to-low, or snapshot %errorlevel% and use ==.
• choice /C YN then if %errorlevel%==0 — choice never returns 0 (except on Ctrl+C / error). Valid results start at 1.
• set /p for passwords — visible on screen.
• timeout in redirected/no-console context — "ERROR: Input redirection is not supported." Use the ping trick.
• Menu loop with no cls/redraw — output piles up; user loses the menu.
• goto :menu from inside a for loop — you can't resume the loop; structure the menu outside loops.
• Forgetting /N on choice when you've drawn your own menu — you get a duplicate [1,2,3]?.

Exercises

1. Prompt for a username, rejecting empty input, and loop until something is entered.
2. Build a Y/N confirmation subroutine :ask "question" that returns 0 for yes, 1 for no via exit /b.
3. Build the maintenance menu above for real: option 3 shows disk usage; others just echo a placeholder. Use choice.
4. Add a 15-second auto-quit to the menu using choice /D Q /T 15.
5. Make a "type the environment name to deploy" prompt that only proceeds if the user types production exactly (case-insensitive).
6. Replace a timeout /t 3 with a redirection-safe 3-second wait and verify it works when the script's stdin is redirected from nul.

Recap

• set /p "x=prompt: " reads a line; clear x first and check if defined x (empty Enter keeps the old value).
• choice /C keys /N /M "..." reads one validated keypress; errorlevel = 1-based position; test high-to-low or snapshot and use ==.
• Menu = a :label + draw + choice + dispatch + goto :label, kept outside any for loop, with cls each pass.
• No masked input in batch — shell out to PowerShell for secrets, or don't.
• timeout /t N /nobreak >nul to sleep; fall back to ping -n N+1 127.0.0.1 >nul when stdin is redirected.

Next: Scheduling & running scripts →