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PowerShell Commands

ConvertFrom-Json

ConvertFrom-Json [-InputObject*] <String> [<CommonParameters>]

The ConvertFrom-Json cmdlet converts a JavaScript Object Notation (JSON) formatted string to a custom PSCustomObject object that has a property for each field in the JSON string. JSON is commonly used by web sites to provide a textual representation of objects.

To generate a JSON string from any object, use the ConvertTo-Json cmdlet.

This cmdlet was introduced in Windows PowerShell 3.0.

Parameters

-InputObject <String>

  • This value is required
  • Default value is None
  • Accepts pipeline input ByValue

Specifies the JSON strings to convert to JSON objects. Enter a variable that contains the string, or type a command or expression that gets the string. You can also pipe a string to ConvertFrom-Json .

The InputObject parameter is required, but its value can be an empty string. When the input object is an empty string, ConvertFrom-Json does not generate any output. The InputObject value cannot be $Null.

<CommonParameters>

This cmdlet supports the common parameters: Verbose, Debug,ErrorAction, ErrorVariable, WarningAction, WarningVariable,OutBuffer, PipelineVariable, and OutVariable.

Inputs
System.String
You can pipe a JSON string to ConvertFrom-Json .
Outputs
PSCustomObject
Examples
  1. Convert a DateTime object to a JSON object: 
    PS C:\> Get-Date | Select-Object -Property * | ConvertTo-Json | ConvertFrom-Json
DisplayHint : 2
DateTime    : Friday, January 13, 2012 8:06:31 PM
Date        : 1/13/2012 8:00:00 AM
Day         : 13
DayOfWeek   : 5
DayOfYear   : 13
Hour        : 20
Kind        : 2
Millisecond : 400
Minute      : 6
Month       : 1
Second      : 31
Ticks       : 634620819914009002
TimeOfDay   : @{Ticks=723914009002; Days=0; Hours=20; Milliseconds=400; Minutes=6; Seconds=31; TotalDays=0.83786343634490734; TotalHours=20.108722472277776; TotalMilliseconds=72391400.900200009; TotalMinutes=1206.5233483366667;TotalSeconds=72391.4009002}
Year        : 2012

    This command uses the ConvertTo-Json and ConvertFrom-Json cmdlets to convert a DateTime object from the Get-Date cmdlet to a JSON object.

    The command uses the Select-Object cmdlet to get all of the properties of the DateTime object. It uses the ConvertTo-Json cmdlet to convert the DateTime object to a JSON-formatted string and the ConvertFrom-Json cmdlet to convert the JSON-formatted string to a JSON object..

  2. Get JSON strings from a web service and convert them to Windows PowerShell objects: 
    PS C:\> $j = Invoke-WebRequest -Uri http://search.twitter.com/search.json?q=PowerShell | ConvertFrom-Json

    This command uses the Invoke-WebRequest cmdlet to get JSON strings from a web service and then it uses the ConvertFrom-Json cmdlet to convert JSON content to objects that can be managed in Windows PowerShell.

    You can also use the Invoke-RestMethod cmdlet, which automatically converts JSON content to objects.

  3. Convert a JSON string to a custom object: 
    PS C:\> (Get-Content JsonFile.JSON) -join "`n" | ConvertFrom-Json

    This example shows how to use the ConvertFrom-Json cmdlet to convert a JSON file to a Windows PowerShell custom object.

    The command uses Get-Content cmdlet to get the strings in a JSON file. It uses the Join operator to join the strings in the file into a single string that is delimited by newline characters (`n). Then it uses the pipeline operator to send the delimited string to the ConvertFrom-Json cmdlet, which converts it to a custom object.

    The Join operator is required, because the ConvertFrom-Json cmdlet expects a single string.

Additional Notes
 The ConvertFrom-Json cmdlet is implemented by using the JavaScriptSerializer * class 
 (http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/system.web.script.serialization.javascriptserializer(VS.100).aspx).

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International. It is attributed to Microsoft Corporation and can be found here.

PowerShell Commands