Powershell Array: HOWTO Dedup Output - arrays

Question

When I run this parser script on my contacts.xml, which shows one line per user, I get multiple instances of the same data. I only want a single entry for the same data. How do I dedup the data before it writes to the CSV?
#https://stackoverflow.com/questions/29999682/powershell-parsing-a-text-file
$input = Get-Content $env:USERPROFILE\Downloads\contacts.xml\Downloads\contacts.xml
$array = #()
$input | % {
$writeobj = $false
$obj = New-Object System.Object
if ($_ -match 'email*') {
$Email = ($_ -split ':')[1]
}
if ($_ -match 'FN*') {
$NAME = ($_ -split ':')[1]
$writeobj = $true
}
if ($writeobj) {
$obj | Add-Member -Type NoteProperty -Name Email -Value $Email
$obj | Add-Member -Type NoteProperty -Name Name -Value $NAME
$array += $obj
}
Write-Host $Name, $email
}
$array | Export-Csv -Path C:\scripts\reports\test.csv -NoTypeInformation
I expect this to produce single entries but I get duplicates (and they don't line up right either).
(And yes I checked the XML file for single entries)

Answer 1

Select the unique objects.
$array |
Select-Object -Property * -Unique |
Export-Csv -Path 'C:\scripts\reports\test.csv' -NoType
As a side note, you may want to avoid appending to an array in a loop, as that is bound to perform poorly. Just pipe your ForEach-Object loop directly into Export-Csv.

Answer 2

I figured it out.
I REVERSED the $obj Add-Member variables *that fixed the order) and added another "$writeobj = $true" line to the FN match, and VOILÀ no more dupes.
Is that weird or what?
#https://stackoverflow.com/questions/29999682/powershell-parsing-a-text-file
$input = Get-Content $env:USERPROFILE\Downloads\contacts.xml $array =
#() $input | % {
$writeobj = $false
$obj = New-Object System.Object
If ($_ -match 'email') {
$Email = ($_ -split ':')[1]
$writeobj = $true
}
If ($_ -match 'FN') {
$NAME = ($_ -split ':')[1]
$writeobj = $true # <-- right here
}
If ($writeobj){
$obj | Add-Member -type NoteProperty -name Email -value **$NAME**
$obj | Add-Member -type NoteProperty -name Name -value **$Email**
$array += $obj
}
Write-Host $Name, $email } $array | Export-Csv -path C:\scripts\reports\test.csv -NoTypeInformation