Powershell, remove spaces between values

Question

When i export to a csv file, i get spaces on either side of a pipline that i need between two to diffrent values in the same cell. However i need to get rid of the spcaces before i import it to a system.

$DNs = @(
"OU=Personal,OU=Administration,OU=ccc,DC=aaa,DC=bbb,DC=se"
)

# Create empty array
$System_Users = @()

$Pipeline = "|";

# Loop through every DN
foreach ($DN in $DNs) {
$Users = Get-ADUser -SearchBase $DN -Filter * -Properties *

# Add users to array
$System_Users += $Users
}

# Create list
$System_Users | Select-Object `
@{Label = "First name"; Expression = { $_.givenName } },
@{Label = "Last name"; Expression = { $_.sn } },
@{Label = "User logon name"; Expression = { $_.sAMAccountName } },
@{Label = "Job Title"; Expression = { $_.Title } },
@{Label = "Department"; Expression = { $_.department } },
@{Label = "Company"; Expression = { $_.company } },
@{Label = "Manager"; Expression = { % { (Get-AdUser $_.Manager -Properties cn).cn } } },
@{Label = "E-mail"; Expression = { $_.Mail } },
@{Label = "Groups"; Expression = {$_.company, $Pipeline, $_.department } },
@{Label = "Account status"; Expression = { if (($_.Enabled -eq 'TRUE') ) { 'Enabled' } Else
{'Disabled'} } } |


# Export report to CSV file
#Export-Csv -Encoding UTF8 -path $Csvfile -NoTypeInformation -Delimiter ","
Export-Csv C:\Support\Script\System_Users\System_users_group.csv -NoTypeInformation -Delimiter "," -   Encoding UTF8

The result looks like this (note the space on either side of the | symbol in the field corresponding to the Groups property):

"First name","Last name",...,"E-mail","Company | Department","Account status"

So any ideas how to remove the space before and after the pipeline?

Answer 1

$_.company, $Pipeline, $_.department creates an array (via ,, the comma operator), and when that array is implicitly stringified by Export-Csv, its (stringified) elements are joined by a space as the separator.^[1]

E.g., [string] ('a', '|', 'c') (as well as "$('a', '|', 'c')") becomes 'a | c'

To get the desired representation (e.g, 'a|b'), you must perform the stringification yourself, and there are two basic options:

• As Olaf notes, you can use string concatenation with +, the addition / string concatenation operator:

  # NOTE:
  #  The [string] cast is only needed if $_.company isn't already a string.
  [string] $_.company + $Pipeline + $_.department
  

• Especially if there are three or more elements to join, use -join, the string joining operator:

  # NOTE:
  #  No [string] cast needed - all elements are implicitly stringified as needed.
  $_.company, $_.department -join $Pipeline
  

---

^{[1] A space is the default separator; though it is rarely used (and best avoided), you can specify a different separator via the $OFS preference variable.}