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
New-Item IMadeThisUp.txt -Force
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.