Powershell Array Issue when one item found

Problem

#populate a 2D array with NAM and with UserID
$ResultsArray = @(($ADUsersList.name),($ADUsersList.samaccountname),($ADUsersList.enabled))

The issue is that if $ADUsersList contains only 1 object, $ResultsArray will become a flat array instead of a nested array. This is because member-access enumeration applies pipeline-like logic, returning a single value as-is and an array for two or more values.

Solution

#populate a 2D array with NAM and with UserID
$ResultsArray = @(@($ADUsersList.name), @($ADUsersList.samaccountname), @($ADUsersList.enabled))

To ensure that the result of member-access enumeration is an array, use the array-subexpression operator (@(...)) or, preferably, cast it to an array using [array] $ADUsersList.Name.

Alternatively, you can skip the creation of $ResultsArray and directly use the array of objects in $ADUsersList.

#add aduser properties to array, return error and exit if no user found
$ADUsersList = @(Get-ADUser -filter 'surname -like $search' -Properties * | select name,samaccountname,DistinguishedName,Enabled)

if ($ADUsersList.count -le 1){
    Write-host "USER NOT FOUND"
    return
}

# skip the `$ResultsArray` step completely

Write-host "`t NAME `t`t`t USER ID `t`t ACCOUNT ENABLED"
#return list of found users and user ids. Preface with index number to use for selection menu
for ($i = 0; $i -le $ADUsersList.Count; $i++) {
    "[{0}] = {1} `t `t {2} `t `t {3}" -f $i,$ADUserlist[$i].Name,$ADUserlist[$i].SAMAccountName,$ADUserlist[$i].Enabled
}

This solution eliminates the need for the $ResultsArray step and uses the $ADUsersList array directly.

Additional Information

Member-access enumeration applies pipeline-like logic to the property values it retrieves. Therefore, a single value is output as-is, and two or more values are returned as a regular PowerShell array.

To ensure that a member-access enumeration returns an array of values, you must wrap it in @(...) or cast it to [array].

# Create a single-element array.
$ADUsersList = @([pscustomobject] @{ Name = 'J.Doe' })

# Apply member-access enumeration:

# WITHOUT ensuring that that result is an array: 
#  `$ADUsersList.Name` is a single [string], 
#  and [0] extract its first *character*
# -> !! Outputs just 'J'.
$ADUsersList.Name[0]

# WITH ensuring that that result is an array.
#  `[array] $ADUsersList.Name` is a single-element array
#   and [0] extract its first *element*, i.e the contained [string].
# -> OK: 'J.Doe'
([array] $ADUsersList.Name)[0]