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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]
              [-EnumsAsStrings]
              [-AsArray]
              [-EscapeHandling <StringEscapeHandling>]
              [<CommonParameters>]

Description

The ConvertTo-Json cmdlet converts any .NET 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 PowerShell.

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

As of PowerShell 7.1, ConvertTo-Json emits a warning if the depth of the input object exceeds the depth specified for the command. This prevents unwanted data loss when converting objects.

This cmdlet was introduced in Windows PowerShell 3.0.

Examples

Example 1

(Get-UICulture).Calendar | ConvertTo-Json

{
  "MinSupportedDateTime": "0001-01-01T00:00:00",
  "MaxSupportedDateTime": "9999-12-31T23:59:59.9999999",
  "AlgorithmType": 1,
  "CalendarType": 1,
  "Eras": [
    1
  ],
  "TwoDigitYearMax": 2029,
  "IsReadOnly": true
}

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

Example 2

Get-Date | ConvertTo-Json; Get-Date | ConvertTo-Json -AsArray

{
  "value": "2018-10-12T23:07:18.8450248-05:00",
  "DisplayHint": 2,
  "DateTime": "October 12, 2018 11:07:18 PM"
}
[
  {
    "value": "2018-10-12T23:07:18.8480668-05:00",
    "DisplayHint": 2,
    "DateTime": "October 12, 2018 11:07:18 PM"
  }
]

This example shows the output from ConvertTo-Json cmdlet with and without the AsArray switch parameter. You can see the second portion of the output is wrapped in array brackets.

Example 3

@{Account="User01";Domain="Domain01";Admin="True"} | ConvertTo-Json -Compress

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

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

Example 4

Get-Date | Select-Object -Property * | ConvertTo-Json

{
  "DisplayHint": 2,
  "DateTime": "October 12, 2018 10:55:32 PM",
  "Date": "2018-10-12T00:00:00-05:00",
  "Day": 12,
  "DayOfWeek": 5,
  "DayOfYear": 285,
  "Hour": 22,
  "Kind": 2,
  "Millisecond": 639,
  "Minute": 55,
  "Month": 10,
  "Second": 32,
  "Ticks": 636749817326397744,
  "TimeOfDay": {
    "Ticks": 825326397744,
    "Days": 0,
    "Hours": 22,
    "Milliseconds": 639,
    "Minutes": 55,
    "Seconds": 32,
    "TotalDays": 0.95523888627777775,
    "TotalHours": 22.925733270666665,
    "TotalMilliseconds": 82532639.774400011,
    "TotalMinutes": 1375.54399624,
    "TotalSeconds": 82532.6397744
  },
  "Year": 2018
}

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 5

Get-Date | Select-Object -Property * | ConvertTo-Json | ConvertFrom-Json

DisplayHint : 2
DateTime    : October 12, 2018 10:55:52 PM
Date        : 2018-10-12 12:00:00 AM
Day         : 12
DayOfWeek   : 5
DayOfYear   : 285
Hour        : 22
Kind        : 2
Millisecond : 768
Minute      : 55
Month       : 10
Second      : 52
Ticks       : 636749817527683372
TimeOfDay   : @{Ticks=825527683372; Days=0; Hours=22; Milliseconds=768; Minutes=55; Seconds=52;
              TotalDays=0.95547185575463; TotalHours=22.9313245381111; TotalMilliseconds=82552768.3372;
              TotalMinutes=1375.87947228667; TotalSeconds=82552.7683372}
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

-AsArray

Outputs the object in array brackets, even if the input is a single object.

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

-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 value can be any number from 1 to 100. The default value is 2. ConvertTo-Json emits a warning if the number of levels in an input object exceeds this number.

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

-EnumsAsStrings

Provides an alternative serialization option that converts all enumerations to their string representation.

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

-EscapeHandling

Controls how certain characters are escaped in the resulting JSON output. By default, only control characters (like newline) are escaped.

Acceptable values are:

  • Default - Only control characters are escaped.
  • EscapeNonAscii - All non-ASCII and control characters are escaped.
  • EscapeHtml - HTML (<, >, &, ', ") and control characters are escaped.

This parameter was introduced in PowerShell 6.2.

Type:Newtonsoft.Json.StringEscapeHandling
Position:Named
Default value:Default
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 returns the JSON representation of null. When the input object is an empty string, ConvertTo-Json returns the JSON representation of 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

The ConvertTo-Json cmdlet is implemented using Newtonsoft Json.NET.