How dow I stringify an array without spaces between its elements?

Question

$readFile = get-content $readInput

#create an empty array to be filled with bank account numbers
$fNameArray = @()

for($i = 0; $i -lt $readFile.length; $i++){

    #assigns a random letter from the list to $letter.
    #$letter = get-random -inputobject ("A","B","C","D","E","F","G","H","I","J","K","L","M","N","O","P","Q","R","S","T","U","V","W","X","Y","Z") -count $readFile.length 
    $letter = $readFile[$i] | foreach-object{get-random -inputobject ("A","B","C","D","E","F","G","H","I","J","K","L","M","N","O","P","Q","R","S","T","U","V","W","X","Y","Z") -count $readFile[$i].length}

    $fnameArray += "$letter"
}
$fnameArray

the code is reading in a file that has a list of names and randomizing the letters for Data Masking. The only problem I am running into is the output is like such:

L R Y E B
R O M I
U Q N G R
H K Y
M G A W Q
J G W Y D K T
X E Q
J Y P I G

It looks like it is output with spaces between the letters. How do I eliminate them?

Simplest way would be to make $fnameArray into a string instead of an array. — Eris
– Eris, Commented May 25, 2017 at 20:04
P S A N FV Q S NA P S H MF R GV J E M IB T Y R S Z ME A FK H X T S This is the output of $fNameArray = "" — schnipdip
– schnipdip, Commented May 25, 2017 at 20:07
@Eris: That won't help, because it is the stringification of array $letter as "$letter" that introduces the spaces. — mklement0
– mklement0, Commented May 25, 2017 at 20:18

mklement0 · Accepted Answer · 2017-05-25 20:10:58Z

1

The unary form of the -join operator joins (concatenates) all array elements without a separator.

> -join ('a', 'b', 'c')
abc

Therefore, simply use:

$fnameArray += -join $letter

By contrast, "$letter" stringifies the array using $OFS (the output field separator) as the separator, which defaults to a space, which explains your output.

Therefore, you could alternatively set $OFS to '' (the empty string) and use "$letter". However, the -join approach is simpler and doesn't require you to create a local scope for / restore the previous $OFS value.

edited May 25, 2017 at 20:10

answered May 25, 2017 at 20:07

mklement0

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