Exporting System.Object[] to string in PowerShell

Question

I created a script that basically iterates through all lists in a site and its subsites and lists the permissions for each document or item.

The script works, however, when being written to the CSV file the permissions (Member + Role) string gets written as System.Object[] instead of a proper string in the CSV output (e.g. Member: user123 Role: Full Control).

Sample output:

"Common Hover Panel Actions", "https://#######.####.###.##", "https://######.######.#####.####", "System.Object[]", "                           Ministry for Finance", "Master Page Gallery", "12/22/2015 8:34:39 AM", "_catalogs/masterpage/Display Templates/Search/Item_CommonHoverPanel_Actions.js", "12/22/2015 8:34:39 AM", "6.2763671875"

The below is the script:

Add-PSSnapin Microsoft.SharePoint.PowerShell

function Get-DocInventory([string]$siteUrl) {
    $site = New-Object Microsoft.SharePoint.SPSite $siteUrl

    $i = 0;
    foreach ($web in $site.AllWebs) {

        $count = $site.AllWebs.Count
        foreach ($list in $web.Lists) {

            if ($list.BaseType -ne “DocumentLibrary”)
            {
               continue
            }

            foreach ($item in $list.Items) {
                $data = @{
                    "Web Application" = $web.ToString()
                    "Site" = $site.Url
                    "Web" = $web.Url
                    "list" = $list.Title
                    "Item URL" = $item.Url
                    "Item Title" = $item["Title"]
                    "Item Created" = $item["Created"]
                    "Item Modified" = $item["Modified"]
                    "File Size" = $item.File.Length/1KB
                    "Permissions" = foreach($roleAssignment in $item.RoleAssignments)
                    {
                        $Permission = ""

                        foreach($roleDefinition in $roleAssignment.RoleDefinitionBindings)
                        {
                            $Permission = $(foreach($roleAssignment in $item.RoleAssignments){$roleAssignment}
                            {
                                "Member: " +  $roleAssignment.Member.LoginName + " Role: " + $roleDefinition.Name + " "
                            } -join ',')

                            $Permission
                            Write-Progress -activity "Working" -status "Checked Sub-Site $i of $count" -percentComplete (($i / $count)/100)
                        }
                    }
                }
                New-Object PSObject -Property $data
            }
        }
        $web.Dispose();
    }
    $i++
    $site.Dispose()
}
<# Get-DocInventory "https://#####.####.###.##/" | Out-GridView #>
Get-DocInventory "https://#####.####.###.##/" | Export-Csv -NoTypeInformation -Path C:\Users\livob002-lap\Desktop\Permissions-FinanceIntranet.csv

Is it possible to export the System.Object[] for the username as string in the CSV? The names appear as they should in the GridView.

Have you tried a subexpression? blogs.technet.microsoft.com/stefan_stranger/2013/09/25/… and stackoverflow.com/questions/26984637/… have more info on them. $Permission = "Member: " + $($roleAssignment.Member.LoginName) + " Role: " + $($roleDefinition.Name) Thanks, Tim. — Tim Haintz
– Tim Haintz, Commented Jan 16, 2017 at 9:44

Jay Brown · Accepted Answer · 2021-06-21 22:22:49Z

10

All I had to do was:

$mystring = $myobject | Out-String

answered Jun 21, 2021 at 22:22

Jay Brown

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1 Comment

Peter Schott Over a year ago

This made my life much easier for just converting a list of servers into a string I could attach in an email. Was having a bear of a time finding this elsewhere. :)

Peter Mortensen · Accepted Answer · 2018-12-29 14:28:07Z

6

There are a few ways to avoid it.

Using –Join

[pscustomobject]@{
   Value = (@(1,3,5,6) -join ',')
} | Export-Csv -notype output.csv

Out-String and Trim()

[pscustomobject]@{
    Value = (@(1,3,5,6) | Out-String).Trim()
} | Export-Csv -notype output.csv

Reference: Avoiding System.Object[] (or Similar Output) when using Export-Csv

edited Dec 29, 2018 at 14:28

Peter Mortensen

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answered Jan 16, 2017 at 10:05

Ranadip Dutta

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2 Comments

KranthiKiran Over a year ago

learn-powershell.net/2014/01/24/… is the article which talks about the details of this, I think we need to give credit to the author.

Ranadip Dutta Over a year ago

Lets give it now :)

Andreas · Accepted Answer · 2017-01-16 09:40:21Z

4

The foreach statement returns an array, so the line

"Permissions" = foreach($roleAssignment in $item.RoleAssignments)

assigns a System.Array to the key "Permissions". The ToString() method for a System.Array returns System.Object[].

You can "convert" a string array to a string by using the -join operator. The following could work.

"Permissions" = foreach($roleAssignment in $item.RoleAssignments)
{
    ...
} -join ', '

answered Jan 16, 2017 at 9:40

Andreas

563 bronze badges

5 Comments

Mathias R. Jessen Over a year ago

You'll need to wrap the foreach block in a subexpression $(foreach($item in $list){$item})-join', ', for the -join operation to apply to the output

Brian Over a year ago

@Andreas Thanks however the output in the CSV is still the same. Upodated code

Brian Over a year ago

@MathiasR.Jessen Can you kindly explain further?

Mathias R. Jessen Over a year ago

The foreach loop statement is not a value expression, and the last } effectively terminates the statement, so -join ', ' ends up just being a unary operation that outputs ,

Brian Over a year ago

@MathiasR.Jessen Thanks!

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