The WhatIf parameter replaces the confirmation prompt with a simple statement that should state what would have been done, using Remove-Item as an example again:

PS> Set-Location $env:TEMP
PS> New-Item IMadeThisUp.txt -Force
PS> Remove-Item .IMadeThisUp.txt -WhatIf
  
Confirm
Are you sure you want to perform this action?
What If: Performing the operation "Remove File" on target "C:UserswhoamiAppDataLocalTempIMadeThisUp.txt".

If both Confirm and WhatIf are used with a command, WhatIf takes precedence.

WhatIf may be unset on a per-command basis by supplying a value of false in the same manner as the Confirm parameter. Let's look at the following example:

'Some message' | Out-File $env:TEMP	est.txt -WhatIf:$false 

The previous technique can be useful if a file (such as a log file) should be written to, irrespective of whether WhatIf is being used or not.