Powershell script : Set-ADUser -clear with multiple attributes in variable

I want to clear multiple attributes by using variable in Powershell script (version 5.1.17763.1007)

It's work :

Set-ADUser -Identity $($user.SID) -Clear Initials,info

It's work also:

$emptyParams='Initials'
Set-ADUser -Identity $($user.SID) -Clear $emptyParams

It's not work :

$emptyParams='Initials,info'
Set-ADUser -Identity $($user.SID) -Clear $emptyParams

and display :

Set-ADUser : The specified directory service attribute or value does not exist Parameter name: Initials,info At Set-ADUserDesc.ps1:32 char:9 + Set-ADUser -Identity $($user.SID) -Clear $emptyParams + ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ + CategoryInfo : InvalidArgument: (S-1-5-21-414636...1575523350-2106:ADUser) [Set-ADUser], ArgumentException + FullyQualifiedErrorId : ActiveDirectoryCmdlet:System.ArgumentException,Microsoft.ActiveDirectory.Management.Commands.SetADUser

Can you explain-me why ?

Best regards,

Solution 1:

To directly answer your question of why the third method does not work:

There is no attribute by the name Initials,Info which is why the cmdlet fails. Your input (a string with a comma) is not the same as an array of strings.

The docmentation for the cmdlet Set-AdUser indicates that the -Clear attributes accepts an array of strings (or a single string, which would just be an array with a single element) as valid input:

 Set-ADUser
   ...
   [-Clear <String[]>]
   ...

Let's go over each scenario you covered in your question.

 Set-ADUser -Identity $($user.SID) -Clear Initials,info

The first method supplies two strings separated by a comma (this is interpreted as an array of strings) to the -Clear parameter. Good.

 $emptyParams='Initials' 
 Set-ADUser -Identity $($user.SID) -Clear $emptyParams

The second method is supplying a single string (or an array of a single element) to the -Clear parameter. Good.

 $emptyParams='Initials,info'
 Set-ADUser -Identity $($user.SID) -Clear $emptyParams

The final method is actually supplying the attribute "Initials,Info". As noted above, this is a single string with commas in it, and the cmdlet iterprets it as a single argument.

To achieve what I think you're going for, you'll need to build and supply an array of valid attribute names. This should work:

$emptyParams = @()
$emptyParams += "Initials"
$emptyParams += "Info"
Set-ADUser -Identity $($user.SID) -Clear $emptyParams

And actually, this should work, too:

 $emptyParams='Initials,info'
 Set-ADUser -Identity $($user.SID) -Clear $emptyParams.Split(',')

Solution 2:

You can symply do it by creating a PowerShell array:

$emptyParams=@('Initials','info')
Set-ADUser -Identity $($user.SID) -Clear $emptyParams

or 1 line format

Set-ADUser -Identity $($user.SID) -Clear @('Initials','info')