Variable from read-host not working in select-object

Question

i encountered a problem when trying to build a small read-host script that pipes the result into an AD script:

when doing an AD search, i can select objects like that:

get-aduser exampleuser | select-object name,enabled

though when i enter

name,enabled

into the read-host that stores the input as a variable which later gets used in the script, it turns into this:

name,enabled
------------
{}

instead of this (when typing it manually)

get-adcomputer CTXTEST | select-object name,enabled

name    enabled
----    -------
CTXTEST   False

I assume that I overlook something rather simple, but I tried a lot of things and didnt find a solution through master Google.

Martin Brandl · Accepted Answer · 2018-03-21 12:25:14Z

3

Thats because the Select-Object cmdlet takes an array of strings, the Read-Host cmdlet only returns a singe string, even if the string contains a comma.

You can simply create an array by splitting the input on a comma. (I also use the regex to trim whitespaces):

$selectResult = (Read-Host "Which properties?") -split '\s*,\s*'

answered Mar 21, 2018 at 12:25

Martin Brandl

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4 Comments

Mathias R. Jessen Over a year ago

Nice. I usually do -split ',' |% Trim to avoid excess whitespace

Martin Brandl Over a year ago

@MathiasR.Jessen wow, and I didn't know that you can invoke Trim like that :-). So I can invoke any member method like that?

Flying Thunder Over a year ago

i was about to add this as i just found out this works aswell - i split it up at the "," and it works just fine. it feels sloppy and messy, but i guess its fine if noone ever sees it

Martin Brandl Over a year ago

Sure, but if you enter name, enabled then your select will fail.

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