Pipe complete array-objects instead of array items one at a time?

Question

How do you send the output from one CmdLet to the next one in a pipeline as a complete array-object instead of the individual items in the array one at a time?

Answer 1

Short answer: use unary array operator ,:

,$theArray | foreach{Write-Host $_}

Long answer: there is one thing you should understand about @() operator: it always interpret its content as statement, even if content is just an expression. Consider this code:

$a='A','B','C'
$b=@($a;)
$c=@($b;)

I add explicit end of statement mark ; here, although PowerShell allows to omit it. $a is array of three elements. What result of $a; statement? $a is a collection, so collection should be enumerated and each individual item should be passed by pipeline. So result of $a; statement is three elements written to pipeline. @($a;) see that three elements, but not the original array, and create array from them, so $b is array of three elements. Same way $c is array of same three elements. So when you write @($collection) you create array, that copy elements of $collection, instead of array of single element.