# ask and confirm

Here are some fun commands for user interactivity in the shell.  You can use these as part of a recipe or a nice "one-liner".

### ask

The `ask` command is similar to the `ask()` method in Task Runners.  It requires an interactive terminal and will ask the user a question and return their answer.  It is meant to be changed with other commands.

```bash
set color=`ask "favorite Color? "`
echo "you said ${color}"
```

or with default values

```bash
ask question="Who is cool? " defaultResponse="Balbino!"
```

or with masked input

```bash
ask question="What is your password? " mask=*
```

Or fun stuff like this

```bash
ask "Secret phrase: " | assertEqual "mockingbird" || echo "access denied!" && exit 1
```

### confirm

The `confirm` command will ask the user a yes/no question and return a passing or failing exit code from the command based on the answer.

```bash
confirm "do you want to update your packages? " && update
```

Remember the `&&` operator will only execute the second command if the first command returns an exit code of `0`.


---

# Agent Instructions: Querying This Documentation

If you need additional information that is not directly available in this page, you can query the documentation dynamically by asking a question.

Perform an HTTP GET request on the current page URL with the `ask` query parameter:

```
GET https://commandbox.ortusbooks.com/helpful-commands/ask-and-confirm.md?ask=<question>
```

The question should be specific, self-contained, and written in natural language.
The response will contain a direct answer to the question and relevant excerpts and sources from the documentation.

Use this mechanism when the answer is not explicitly present in the current page, you need clarification or additional context, or you want to retrieve related documentation sections.