Prettify json in powershell 3

Question

Given a standard json string value:

$jsonString = '{ "baz": "quuz", "cow": [ "moo", "cud" ], "foo": "bar" }'

How can I get this to be all pretty with newlines, preferably without brute-force regex?

Simplest method I've found so far is:

$jsonString | ConvertFrom-Json | ConvertTo-Json

However, that seems kinda silly.

What is silly about the method you provided? Any other method will be either more complicated, or require an external module/library. — Rynant, Jul 16 '14 at 20:01
It seems silly because it's taking a json string, doing all the work to convert it to an object, then converting it right back. I was hoping there was something obvious I missed like `Format-Xml` — Eris, Jul 16 '14 at 20:03
`Format-XML` is a PSCX command, and I believe it does the same thing by converting a string to an XML object then converts back to a string. — Rynant, Jul 16 '14 at 20:43
To minify any serialized entity, it has to be first be parsed (if only lexically). Only then does minification work, as the semantics are preserved. — AP., Oct 28 '16 at 18:48
Doesn't even work. ConvertFrom-Json in powershell 5.1 does not support -AsHashtable, so plan on crashing a lot. Use the Newtonsoft answer below — AUSTX_RJL, Dec 11 '18 at 16:58
Json arrays will not round trip correctly through ConvertFrom-Json and ConvertTo-Json. This `[ { "hello": 1 } ]` becomes `{ "value": [ { "hello": 1 } ], "Count": 1 }`. @TechSpud's NewtonSoft approach is better — ben, Feb 08 '19 at 13:59

js2010 · Answer 1 · 2019-05-22T19:02:36.483

31

Works for me. Parentheses make sure get-content is done before piping. Default depth of convertto-json is 2, which is often too low.

function pjson ($jsonfile) {
  (get-content $jsonfile) | convertfrom-json | convertto-json -depth 100 | 
    set-content $jsonfile
}

edited May 22 '19 at 19:02

answered Jun 16 '17 at 16:23

js2010

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This seems pretty key, the depth parameter was the issue in my case. – Svend Jun 08 '18 at 11:31

score 13 · Answer 2 · answered Jan 30 '17 at 08:23

13

If you really don't want to go down the simplest route, which is to use inbuilt PowerShell functions | ConvertFrom-Json | ConvertTo-Json, here is another method, using JSON.net

# http://james.newtonking.com/projects/json-net.aspx
Add-Type -Path "DRIVE:\path\to\Newtonsoft.Json.dll"

$jsonString = '{ "baz": "quuz", "cow": [ "moo", "cud" ], "foo": "bar" }'
[Newtonsoft.Json.Linq.JObject]::Parse($jsonString).ToString()

answered Jan 30 '17 at 08:23

TechSpud

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Which is exactly the same technic only done with dotnet classes. ;-) – gbegerow Jul 21 '17 at 08:24
2

To support Arrays as well as Objects, use JToken, i.e. `[Newtonsoft.Json.Linq.JToken]::Parse($jsonString).ToString()` – ben Feb 08 '19 at 14:00

bobbaluba · Answer 3 · 2020-05-08T11:44:35.477

13

I put this in my profile

function PrettyPrintJson {
    param(
        [Parameter(Mandatory = $true, ValueFromPipeline = $true)]
        $json
    )
    $json | ConvertFrom-Json | ConvertTo-Json -Depth 100
}

Which works with pipes, and can be auto-completed, so it's at least somewhat less typing:

cat .\file.json | PrettyPrintJson
curl https://api.twitter.com/1.1/statuses/user_timeline.json | PrettyPrintJson

edited May 08 '20 at 11:44

answered May 08 '20 at 10:30

bobbaluba

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This is my favorite solution. Easy and short. – gsscoder Nov 26 '20 at 16:17
I like it, it works for me, personally, but I would like to create a little script that I can check into source control for others to work. Appending the function to the top of the ps1 script isn't working, would you be a kind sole and put the two code blocks into one block that could be run from a ps1 script? – Sam Carleton Sep 22 '21 at 15:43
fits perfectly into `$profile`, thanks! – pavol.kutaj Oct 28 '21 at 09:28

score 6 · Answer 4 · edited May 25 '20 at 05:00

Adding to @JS2010's answer I added logic to escape out certain characters and clean up my output even further. The parenthesis seems key and -depth is a big one since you can lose details without it, from what I've seen, on depth that goes beyond the default of 5, I believe it is.

function Format-Json ($JSON)
{
    $PrettifiedJSON = ($JSON) | convertfrom-json | convertto-json -depth 100 | ForEach-Object { [System.Text.RegularExpressions.Regex]::Unescape($_) }
    $PrettifiedJSON
}

fampop · Answer 5 · 2017-05-12T12:10:45.463

-4

I think what you are looking for is this:

$jsonString = @{ 
'baz' = 'quuz'
'cow'= "moo, cud"
'foo'= "bar" 
}
$jsonString|ConvertTo-Json

it produces this output

{
    "baz":  "quuz",
    "cow":  "moo, cud",
    "foo":  "bar"
}

Added note You could also array your cow values to "prettify" it a bit more:

 $jsonString = @{ 
    'baz' = 'quuz'
    'cow'= @("moo"; "cud")
    'foo'= "bar" 
    }

output:

{
    "baz":  "quuz",
    "cow":  [
                "moo",
                "cud"
            ],
    "foo":  "bar"
}

edited May 12 '17 at 12:10

answered May 11 '17 at 18:52

fampop

58
5

2

Your `$jsonString` is really a powershell object. This doesn't solve the problem. – Eris May 12 '17 at 18:30

Prettify json in powershell 3

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