Powershell reference type is expected in argument

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The error message “Powershell reference type is expected in argument” indicates that you are passing an incorrect type of argument to a PowerShell command that expects a reference type.

In PowerShell, reference types are objects that are passed by reference to a command or function. Examples of reference types in PowerShell include arrays, hash tables, and custom objects.

To fix this error, you need to ensure that you are passing the correct reference type as an argument. Here are a few examples to illustrate the concept:

Example 1: Passing an array


$myArray = "Item 1", "Item 2", "Item 3"
Some-Command -Argument $myArray

In this example, we create an array called $myArray and populate it with three items. Then we pass this array as an argument to the command called Some-Command.

Example 2: Passing a hash table


$myHashtable = @{
    Key1 = "Value1"
    Key2 = "Value2"
    Key3 = "Value3"
}
Some-Command -Argument $myHashtable

In this example, we create a hash table called $myHashtable and populate it with three key-value pairs. Then we pass this hash table as an argument to the command called Some-Command.

Example 3: Passing a custom object


$myObject = [PSCustomObject]@{
    Property1 = "Value1"
    Property2 = "Value2"
    Property3 = "Value3"
}
Some-Command -Argument $myObject

In this example, we create a custom object using the [PSCustomObject] type accelerator. We define three properties and their corresponding values. Then we pass this custom object as an argument to the command called Some-Command.

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