Manipulating JSon with PowerShell

A few tips about working with JSon in PowerShell.

Reading JSon from a file

$file = Get-Content c:\tmp\file.json

Converting from text to JSon in PowerShell v3 or v4

$json = $file | ConvertFrom-JSON

Converting from text to JSon in PowerShell v2

Loading the assembly System.Web.Extensions will help in PowerShell v2. This assembly is however present only in .NET 3.5 and higher, so if you don’t have that installed, this solution is not appropriate.

[System.Reflection.Assembly]::LoadWithPartialName("System.Web.Extensions")
$serializer = New-Object System.Web.Script.Serialization.JavaScriptSerializer
$json = $serializer.DeserializeObject($file)

Appending JSon objects

Given that $obj1JSon and $obj2JSon is two valid JSon objects.

$newJson = $obj1JSon + $obj2JSon

Serialize a JSon file to disk in PowerShell v3 or v4

$newJsonFile = $json | ConvertFrom-Json
Set-Content c:\tmp\new.json $newJsonFile

Serialize a JSon file to disk in PowerShell v2

Using the previous v2 trick with methods from System.Web.Extensions loaded.

[System.Reflection.Assembly]::LoadWithPartialName("System.Web.Extensions")
$serializer = New-Object System.Web.Script.Serialization.JavaScriptSerializer
$newJsonFile = $serializer.Serialize($newJSon)
Set-Content c:\tmp\TOwork\created.json $newJsonFile

Checking the PowerShell Version

Not sure what version of PowerShell you are running? Run the command below to find out. The Major Version is the indicator telling you what version that is installed.

$PSVersionTable.PSVersion