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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 .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.

This cmdlet was introduced in Windows PowerShell 3.0.

Examples

Example 1

(Get-UICulture).Calendar | ConvertTo-Json

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

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

Example 2

@{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 3

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

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

-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

-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 this cmdlet.

Outputs

String

This cmdlet returns a string representing the input object converted to a JSON string.

Notes

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