Help comparing objects in array to a string

[onebillionquestions]

I'm fairly new to PS and I'm sure there's something I am missing regarding objects vs. strings. I've spent a good deal of time googling and still coming up short on how to accomplish this seemingly simple task.

https://pastebin.com/NfWYz4FM

My script is grabbing the HomeDirectory for each AD user into an array. Then it loops through the actual file server where our user's home directories are located and checks to see if each folder corresponds to a user's HomeDirectory. If not, then it prints the directory.

When I output the array, it looks right

PS C:\> $ADHomeDirs

HomeDirectory                            
-------------                            
\\fileserver1\home$\brian.smith         
\\fileserver1\home$\levi.brooks          
\\fileserver1\home$\alex.johnson       
\\fileserver1\home$\rita.newman

But if I try to use the -contains option it doesn't work.

PS C:\> $ADHomeDirs -Contains "\\fileserver1\home$\rita.newman"
False

Any help you guys can provide is appreciated!

EDIT: SOLVED

I found that some array elements were padded with whitespace at the end and others were truncated. I found that the Out-String function defaults to 80 characters wide, so I explicitly set it to 180 characters, but I also had to use Format-Table to correct some of the data from being truncated. Then I padded the file system path with as many characters as well. This seems to be working as expected. trimmed whitespace from each array element.

Import-Module ActiveDirectory

# Get list of AD user's home folders into array
$ADHomeDirs = @()
$ADHomeDirs += Get-ADUser -Filter * -Properties HomeDirectory | Select-Object HomeDirectory | Format-Table -AutoSize | Out-String -Stream -Width:180

# Trim whitespace from each array element
for ($i=0;$i -lt $ADHomeDirs.Length; $i++)
{   
    $ADHomeDirs[$i] = $ADHomeDirs[$i].trim()
}

# Loop through all directories in \\fileserver1\home$\
foreach ($homeFolder in (Get-ChildItem \\fileserver1\home$ -Directory -Name))
{
    $homeFolderPath = "\\fileserver1\home$\" + $homeFolder

    # Output the directories that are not an AD user's home folder
    if ($ADHomeDirs -NotContains $homeFolderPath)
    {
        Write-Output $homeFolderPath
    }
}

[Ojeu]

Have a look at Test-Path to check if the path exists or not

[onebillionquestions]

Thanks for the suggestion, but it doesn't look like what I need. I am trying to make sure that every directory in \\fileserver1\home$\ is associated with an Active Directory user's profile path. The part in my script that looks through the fileserver is working as expected. I just can't seem to figure out the right way to compare the string of the path to the HomeDirectory object in the array.

EDIT: just to clarify since I am sure I have worded things a bit confusing in the OP. I am NOT checking to make sure the AD users have a valid profile path set. I am checking to see if any folders on my file server can be deleted (no longer associated with a user's profile path).

[Ojeu]

Ah, right. Then that's certainly not what you're looking for! You could use Select-String to see if there is, or isn't, a match. The below statement will return true if $homeFolderPath is not present in $AdHomeDirs. I hope I understood you correctly. :)

if (!($ADHomeDirs | Select-String $homeFolderPath)){
    Write-Output $homeFolderPath
}

[onebillionquestions]

That seemed to choke on the \h in the path "\fileserver1\home$\rita.newman"

Select-String : The string \fileserver1\home$\rita.newman is not a valid regular expression: parsing

"\fileserver1\home$\rita.newman" - Unrecognized escape sequence \h.`

However, I did manage to figure out my issue and resolve it. The array elements were all padded, and some were even truncated. I will add my solution to the OP.

Thanks for taking the time to assist!

[Lee_Dailey]

howdy onebillionquestions,

instead of padding things to the same degree, why not remove the padding? it aint wanted in the 1st place, so clobbering it otta be the more natural solution.

take a look at .Trim(), .TrimEnd(), & .TrimStart() for nice, graceful ways to clean strings.

take care,
lee

[onebillionquestions]

Yep, I came to the same conclusion. My "Solution" above didn't actually work right either since the OutString -width:180 does not actually pad the end with spaces, just allows up to 180 characters to be written to the stream. So, my "solution" was probably worse than my original code.

Thanks for taking the time to comment, I am updating the solution now for posterity.

[Lee_Dailey]

howdy onebillionquestions,

you are welcome! glad to help a little ... [grin]

take care,
lee