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ConvertFrom-Json

  • Reference
Module:
Microsoft.PowerShell.Utility

Converts a JSON-formatted string to a custom object.

Syntax

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

Description

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. The JSON standard does not prohibit usage that is prohibited with a PSCustomObject. For example, if the JSON string contains duplicate keys, only the last key is used by this cmdlet. See other examples below.

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

This cmdlet was introduced in PowerShell 3.0.

Note

This cmdlet doesn't support JSON with comments.

Examples

Example 1: Convert a DateTime object to a JSON object

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

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

The example 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 string formatted as a JSON object and the ConvertFrom-Json cmdlet to convert the JSON-formatted string to a PSCustomObject object.

Example 2: Get JSON strings from a web service and convert them to PowerShell objects

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 PowerShell.

# Ensures that Invoke-WebRequest uses TLS 1.2
[Net.ServicePointManager]::SecurityProtocol = [Net.SecurityProtocolType]::Tls12
$j = Invoke-WebRequest 'https://api.github.com/repos/PowerShell/PowerShell/issues' | ConvertFrom-Json

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

Example 3: Convert a JSON string to a custom object

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

Get-Content JsonFile.JSON | ConvertFrom-Json

The command uses Get-Content cmdlet to get the strings in a JSON file. Then it uses the pipeline operator to send the delimited string to the ConvertFrom-Json cmdlet, which converts it to a custom object.

Parameters

-InputObject

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.

Type:String
Position:0
Default value:None
Required:True
Accept pipeline input:True
Accept wildcard characters:False

Inputs

String

You can pipe a JSON string to ConvertFrom-Json.

Outputs

PSCustomObject

Notes

The ConvertFrom-Json cmdlet is implemented using the JavaScriptSerializer class.