Powershell Get-Unique splits string in array if 1 value is provided

Question

I have a PowerShell script that fails if only 1 string is fed to an array because it splits it into characters when using Get-Unique and/or Sort-Object. However, if multiple values are provided then it works as expected. So for example:

Expected behavior:

PS X:\> $t = @("asd","bcd") | Get-Unique
PS X:\> $t[0]
asd
PS X:\> $t[1]
bcd

Unexpected (with 1 value):

PS X:\> $t = @("asd") | Get-Unique
PS X:\> $t[0]
a
PS X:\> $t[1]
s
PS X:\> $t[2]
d

Could someone explain why this is happening and how to prevent it? I'd appreciate any input as my searches did not bring any luck.

Thanks

Get-Unique simply outputs the string "asd" - you then split it by indexing into it with [] :) use $t = @( "asd" |Get-Unique ) — Mathias R. Jessen
– Mathias R. Jessen, Commented Oct 18, 2021 at 13:33
Does this answer your question? Pipe complete array-objects instead of array items one at a time? — iRon
– iRon, Commented Oct 18, 2021 at 13:51

Mathias R. Jessen · Accepted Answer · 2021-10-18 13:36:59Z

0

Get-Unique doesn't split anything - it just returns the one string value as is, and as a result, $t now contains a scalar string, not an array:

PS ~> $t = "asd" |Get-Unique
PS ~> $t.GetType().FullName
System.String
PS ~> $t
asd

But as soon as you try to access the string value with the index accessor [], it returns the individual [char] value found at the given index.

If you want to ensure the output from Get-Unique (or Sort-Object or any other command that might return 0, 1, or more objects as output), wrap the pipeline in the array subexpression operator @():

PS ~> $t = @( "asd" | Get-Unique )
PS ~> $t[0]
asd

answered Oct 18, 2021 at 13:36

Mathias R. Jessen

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