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ConvertTo-Json

  • Reference
Module:
Microsoft.PowerShell.Utility

Converts an object to a JSON-formatted string.

Syntax

ConvertTo-Json
              [-InputObject] <Object>
              [-Depth <Int32>]
              [-Compress]
              [<CommonParameters>]

Description

The ConvertTo-Json cmdlet converts any object to a string in JavaScript Object Notation (JSON) format. The properties are converted to field names, the field values are converted to property values, and the methods are removed.

You can then use the ConvertFrom-Json cmdlet to convert a JSON-formatted string to a JSON object, which is easily managed in Windows PowerShell.

Many web sites use JSON instead of XML to serialize data for communication between servers and web-based apps.

This cmdlet was introduced in Windows PowerShell 3.0.

Examples

Example 1

PS C:\> (Get-UICulture).Calendar | ConvertTo-Json

{
    "MinSupportedDateTime":  "\/Date(-62135596800000)\/",
    "MaxSupportedDateTime":  "\/Date(253402300799999)\/",
    "AlgorithmType":  1,
    "CalendarType":  1,
    "Eras":  [
                 1
             ],
    "TwoDigitYearMax":  2029,
    "IsReadOnly":  false
}

This example uses the ConvertTo-Json cmdlet to convert a GregorianCalendar object to a JSON-formatted string.

Example 2

PS C:\> @{Account="User01";Domain="Domain01";Admin="True"} | ConvertTo-Json -Compress

{"Admin":"True","Account":"User01","Domain":"Domain01"}

This example shows the effect of using the -Compress parameter of ConvertTo-Json. The compression affects only the appearance of the string, not its validity.

Example 3

PS C:\> Get-Date | Select-Object -Property * | ConvertTo-Json

{

    "DisplayHint":  2,
    "DateTime":  "Friday, January 13, 2012 8:06:16 PM",
    "Date":  "\/Date(1326441600000)\/",
    "Day":  13,
    "DayOfWeek":  5,
    "DayOfYear":  13,
    "Hour":  20,
    "Kind":  2,
    "Millisecond":  221,
    "Minute":  6,
    "Month":  1,
    "Second":  16,
    "Ticks":  634620819762218083,
    "TimeOfDay":  {
                      "Ticks":  723762218083,
                      "Days":  0,
                      "Hours":  20,
                      "Milliseconds":  221,
                      "Minutes":  6,
                      "Seconds":  16,
                      "TotalDays":  0.83768775241087956,
                      "TotalHours":  20.104506057861109,
                      "TotalMilliseconds":  72376221.8083,
                      "TotalMinutes":  1206.2703634716668,
                      "TotalSeconds":  72376.22180829999
                  },
    "Year":  2012
}

This example uses the ConvertTo-Json cmdlet to convert a System.DateTime object from the Get-Date cmdlet to a JSON-formatted string. The command uses the Select-Object cmdlet to get all (*) of the properties of the DateTime object. The output shows the JSON string that ConvertTo-Json returned.

Example 4

PS C:\> Get-Date | Select-Object -Property * | ConvertTo-Json | ConvertFrom-Json

DisplayHint : 2
DateTime    : Saturday, October 13, 2018 3:28:40 AM
Date        : 10/13/2018 12:00:00 AM
Day         : 13
DayOfWeek   : 6
DayOfYear   : 286
Hour        : 3
Kind        : 2
Millisecond : 346
Minute      : 28
Month       : 10
Second      : 40
Ticks       : 636749981203464381
TimeOfDay   : @{Ticks=125203464381; Days=0; Hours=3; Milliseconds=346; Minutes=28; Seconds=40;
              TotalDays=0.14491141710763888; TotalHours=3.4778740105833332; TotalMilliseconds=12520346.4381;
              TotalMinutes=208.67244063500002; TotalSeconds=12520.3464381}
Year        : 2018

This example shows how to use the ConvertTo-Json and ConvertFrom-Json cmdlets to convert an object to a JSON string and a JSON object.

Parameters

-Compress

Omits white space and indented formatting in the output string.

Type:SwitchParameter
Position:Named
Default value:None
Required:False
Accept pipeline input:False
Accept wildcard characters:False

-Depth

Specifies how many levels of contained objects are included in the JSON representation. The default value is 2.

Type:Int32
Position:Named
Default value:2
Required:False
Accept pipeline input:False
Accept wildcard characters:False

-InputObject

Specifies the objects to convert to JSON format. Enter a variable that contains the objects, or type a command or expression that gets the objects. You can also pipe an object to ConvertTo-Json.

The InputObject parameter is required, but its value can be null ($null) or an empty string. When the input object is $null, ConvertTo-Json does not generate any output. When the input object is an empty string, ConvertTo-Json returns an empty string.

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

Inputs

Object

You can pipe any object to ConvertTo-Json.

Outputs

String

Notes