JSON Parsing
Developer's Guide / Web Services API Guide / So You Want to Work with Delphix APIs? / JSON Parsing

Unix/Linux/Mac Shell

http://stackoverflow.com/questions/1955505/parsing-json-with-unix-tools

https://gist.github.com/cjus/1047794

Unix/Linux tools come natively with a host of shell utilities that one can use for parsing out the desired name/value pairs. Tools include sed, awk, cut, tr, and grep, to name a few. System administrators use these utilities frequently and may be able to assist with the methods for parsing JSON strings.

Basic awk and sed parsing

json='{"type":"OKResult","status":"OK","result":{"type":"Job","reference":"JOB-53","namespace":null,"name":null,"actionType":"DB_SYNC","target":"ORACLE_DB_CONTAINER-9","targetObjectType":"OracleDatabaseContainer","jobState":"RUNNING","startTime":"2016-08-12T19:58:59.811Z","updateTime":"2016-08-12T19:58:59.828Z","suspendable":true,"cancelable":true,"queued":false,"user":"USER-2","emailAddresses":null,"title":"Run SnapSync for database \"VDPXDEV1\".","percentComplete":0.0,"targetName":"Oracle_Source/VDPXDEV1","events":[{"type":"JobEvent","timestamp":"2016-08-12T19:58:59.840Z","state":null,"percentComplete":0.0,"messageCode":"event.job.started","messageDetails":"DB_SYNC job started for \"Oracle_Source/VDPXDEV1\".","messageAction":null,"messageCommandOutput":null,"diagnoses":[],"eventType":"INFO"}],"parentActionState":"WAITING","parentAction":"ACTION-238"},"job":null,"action":null}' 

echo $json | sed -e 's/[{}]/''/g' | awk -v RS=',' -F: '{print $1 $2}'
"type""OKResult"
"status""OK"
"result""type"
"reference""JOB-53"
"namespace"null
"name"null
"actionType""DB_SYNC"
"target""ORACLE_DB_CONTAINER-9"
"targetObjectType""OracleDatabaseContainer"
"jobState""RUNNING"
"startTime""2016-08-12T19
"updateTime""2016-08-12T19
"suspendable"true
"cancelable"true
"queued"false
"user""USER-2"
"emailAddresses"null
"title""Run SnapSync for database \"VDPXDEV1\"."
"percentComplete"0.0
"targetName""Oracle_Source/VDPXDEV1"
"events"["type"
"timestamp""2016-08-12T19
"state"null
"percentComplete"0.0
"messageCode""event.job.started"
"messageDetails""DB_SYNC job started for \"Oracle_Source/VDPXDEV1\"."
"messageAction"null
"messageCommandOutput"null
"diagnoses"[]
"eventType""INFO"]
"parentActionState""WAITING"
"parentAction""ACTION-238"
"job"null
"action"null



Find jobState. Print the second argument, and remove the double quotes.

echo $json | sed -e 's/[{}]/''/g' | sed s/\"//g | awk -v RS=',' -F: '$1=="jobState"{print $2}' 
RUNNING



The first sed removed the brackets and braces. The second sed removes the double quotes. The awk command parses the line by comma delimiters and then parses the each line by the semi-colon delimiter and if the first variable $1 is equal to the jobState value then print the second $2 variable.

If the results contain an array of values, then you need to loop through each set and parse out the desired value. For example,

json='
{"type":"ListResult","status":"OK","result":[{"type":"WindowsHostEnvironment","reference":"WINDOWS_HOST_ENVIRONMENT-1","namespace":null,"name":"Window Target","description":"","primaryUser":"HOST_USER-1","enabled":false,"host":"WINDOWS_HOST-1","proxy":null},{"type":"UnixHostEnvironment","reference":"UNIX_HOST_ENVIRONMENT-3","namespace":null,"name":"Oracle Target","description":"","primaryUser":"HOST_USER-3","enabled":true,"host":"UNIX_HOST-3","aseHostEnvironmentParameters":null}],"job":null,"action":null,"total":2,"overflow":false}'


Parse out array object into separate lines

SOURCE_ENV="Oracle Target"
lines=`echo ${json} | cut -d "[" -f2 | cut -d "]" -f1 | awk -v RS='},{}' -F: '{print $0}' `
while read -r line
do
	#echo "Processing $line"
	#echo $line | sed -e 's/[{}]/''/g' | sed s/\"//g | awk -v RS=',' -F: '$1=="name"{print $2}'
	TMPNAME=`echo $line | sed -e 's/[{}]/''/g' | sed s/\"//g | awk -v RS=',' -F: '$1=="name"{print $2}' `
	#echo "Name: |${TMPNAME}| |${SOURCE_ENV}|"
	if [[ "${TMPNAME}" == "${SOURCE_ENV}" ]]
	then
		echo $line | sed -e 's/[{}]/''/g' | sed s/\"//g | awk -v RS=',' -F: '$1=="primaryUser"{print $2}'
		PRI_USER=`echo $line | sed -e 's/[{}]/''/g' | sed s/\"//g | awk -v RS=',' -F: '$1=="primaryUser"{print $2}' `
		break
	fi
done <<< "$(echo -e "$lines")" 


echo "primaryUser reference: ${PRI_USER}"

 
Output:

primaryUser reference: HOST_USER-3


The above methods will be used within the sample scripts since they use the native Linux tools. They typically do not require you to load extra packages or libraries onto the system.

There are a number of open source utilities designed to simplify the parsing of JSON, such as jsawk and jq.

jsawk

Linux:

Mac:

jq

https://stedolan.github.io/jq/

32-bit system:

64-bit system:



Another method is to use an existing programming language typically available with your native operating system, such as Perl or Python.

$ which perl
/usr/bin/perl

$ which python
/usr/bin/python



Example: Use python to pretty format the JSON data string.

Pretty JSON using python ...

json='{"type":"OKResult","status":"OK","result":{"type":"SystemInfo","productType":"standard","productName":"Delphix Engine","buildTitle":"Delphix Engine 5.1.1.0","buildTimestamp":"20160721T07:23:41.000Z","buildVersion":{"type":"VersionInfo","major":5,"minor":1,"micro":1,"patch":0},"configured":true,"enabedFeatures":["XPP","MSSQLHOOKS"],"apiVersion":{"type":"APIVersion","major":1,"minor":8,"micro":0},"banner":null,"locals":["enUS"],"currentLocale":"enUS","hostname":"Delphix5110HWv8","sshPublicKey":"ssh-rsa AAAAB3NzaC1yc2EAAAADAQABAAABAQDOsrp7Aj6hFQh9yBq7273B+qtPKmCu1B18nPvr08yjt/IZeM4qKk7caxExQS9rpfU8AWoT7e8ESV7NkBmUzOHrHnLsuJtxPqeYoqeMubVxYjJuxlH368sZuYsnB04KM0mi39e15lxVGvxQk9tyMpl7gs7cXRz1k6puncyiczU/axGq7ALHU2uyQoVmlPasuHJbq23d21VAYLuscbtgpZLAFlR8eQH5Xqaa0RT+aQJ6B1ihZ7S0ZN914M2gZHHNYcSGDWZHwUnBGttnxx1ofRcyN4/qwT5iHq5kjApjSaNgSAU0ExqDHiqgTq0wttf5nltCqGMTFR7XY38HiNq++atDroot@Delphix5110HWv8\n","memorySize":8.58107904E9,"platform":"VMware with BIOS date 05/20/2014","uuid":"564d7e1df4cb-f91098fd348d74817683","processors":[{"type":"CPUInfo","speed":2.5E9,"cores":1}],"storageUsed":2.158171648E9,"storageTotal":2.0673724416E10,"installationTime":"2016-07-27T13:28:46.000Z"},"job":null,"action":null}'



Pipe the JSON data to Python programming language to pretty up the format the output for the $json string/data.

$ echo $json | python -mjson.tool
{
	"action": null, 
	"job": null, 
	"result": {
		"apiVersion": {
			"major": 1, 
			"micro": 0, 
			"minor": 8, 
			"type": "APIVersion"
		}, 
		"banner": null, 
		"buildTimestamp": "20160721T07:23:41.000Z", 
		"buildTitle": "Delphix Engine 5.1.1.0", 
		"buildVersion": {
			"major": 5, 
			"micro": 1, 
			"minor": 1, 
			"patch": 0, 
			"type": "VersionInfo"
		}, 
		"configured": true, 
		"currentLocale": "enUS", 
		"enabedFeatures": [
			"XPP", 
			"MSSQLHOOKS"
	], 
	"hostname": "Delphix5110HWv8", 
	"installationTime": "2016-07-27T13:28:46.000Z", 
	"locals": [
		"enUS"
	], 
	"memorySize": 8581079040.0, 
	"platform": "VMware with BIOS date 05/20/2014", 
	"processors": [
		{
			"cores": 1, 
			"speed": 2500000000.0, 
			"type": "CPUInfo"
		}
	], 
	"productName": "Delphix Engine", 
	"productType": "standard", 
	"sshPublicKey": "ssh-rsa AAAAB3NzaC1yc2EAAAADAQABAAABAQDOsrp7Aj6hFQh9yBq7273B+qtPKmCu1B18nPvr08yjt/IZeM4qKk7caxExQS9rpfU8AWoT7e8ESV7NkBmUzOHrHnLsuJtxPqeYoqeMubVxYjJuxlH368sZuYsnB04KM0mi39e15lxVGvxQk9tyMpl7gs7cXRz1k6puncyiczU/axGq7ALHU2uyQoVmlPasuHJbq23d21VAYLuscbtgpZLAFlR8eQH5Xqaa0RT+aQJ6B1ihZ7S0ZN914M2gZHHNYcSGDWZHwUnBGttnxx1ofRcyN4/qwT5iHq5kjApjSaNgSAU0ExqDHiqgTq0wttf5nltCqGMTFR7XY38HiNq++atDroot@Delphix5110HWv8\n",
	"storageTotal": 20673724416.0, 
	"storageUsed": 2158171648.0, 
	"type": "SystemInfo", 
	"uuid": "564d7e1df4cb-f91098fd348d74817683"
	}, 
	"status": "OK", 
	"type": "OKResult"
}


jq parser


The jq command line parser is available on Unix, Linux, Mac, and Windows platforms. Typically, for Windows, the built-in ConvertFrom/To-Json object parser will be used. "jq" is being included in most native Linux distributions and is easy to install on the Mac OS.

References:

http://www.compciv.org/recipes/cli/jq-for-parsing-json/

https://github.com/stedolan/jq/wiki/FAQ#installation

Mac Installation: http://macappstore.org/jq/

Example:

json='{"type":"ListResult","status":"OK","result":[{"type":"OracleLinkedSource","reference":"ORACLE_LINKED_SOURCE-52","namespace":null,"name":"DPXDEV01","description":null,"virtual":false,"restoration":false,"staging":false,"container":"ORACLE_DB_CONTAINER-120","config":"ORACLE_SINGLE_CONFIG-40","status":"DEFAULT","runtime":{"type":"OracleSourceRuntime","status":"RUNNING","accessible":true,"databaseSize":2.409529344E9,"notAccessibleReason":null,"databaseMode":"READ_WRITE","lastNonLoggedLocation":"0","activeInstances":[{"type":"OracleActiveInstance","instanceNumber":1,"instanceName":"DPXDEV01","hostName":"linuxtarget.delphix.local"}],"databaseStats":null,"bctEnabled":true,"racEnabled":null,"dnfsEnabled":false,"archivelogEnabled":null},"backupLevelEnabled":false,"rmanChannels":2,"filesPerSet":5,"checkLogical":false,"externalFilePath":null,"encryptedLinkingEnabled":false,"compressedLinkingEnabled":true,"bandwidthLimit":0,"numberOfConnections":1,"enabled":true,"preScript":"","postScript":"","role":"PRIMARY"},{"type":"OracleVirtualSource","reference":"ORACLE_VIRTUAL_SOURCE-25","namespace":null,"name":"VBITT","description":null,"virtual":true,"restoration":false,"staging":false,"container":"ORACLE_DB_CONTAINER-121","config":"ORACLE_SINGLE_CONFIG-47","status":"DEFAULT","runtime":{"type":"OracleSourceRuntime","status":"RUNNING","accessible":true,"databaseSize":2.410053632E9,"notAccessibleReason":null,"databaseMode":"READ_WRITE","lastNonLoggedLocation":"0","activeInstances":[{"type":"OracleActiveInstance","instanceNumber":1,"instanceName":"VBITT","hostName":"linuxtarget.delphix.local"}],"databaseStats":[{"type":"OracleDatabaseStatsSection","sectionName":"Open Transactions","columnHeaders":["Transaction Count"],"rowValues":[{"type":"OracleDatabaseStatistic","statisticValues":["0"]}]},{"type":"OracleDatabaseStatsSection","sectionName":"Session Statistics","columnHeaders":["Current Session","Total Session","High Watermark"],"rowValues":[{"type":"OracleDatabaseStatistic","statisticValues":["2","46","5"]}]},{"type":"OracleDatabaseStatsSection","sectionName":"Top Wait Events","columnHeaders":["Event","Wait Count","Total Wait Time (s)"],"rowValues":[{"type":"OracleDatabaseStatistic","statisticValues":["Disk file operations I/O","13","13"]},{"type":"OracleDatabaseStatistic","statisticValues":["log file sequential read","11","12"]},{"type":"OracleDatabaseStatistic","statisticValues":["control file parallel write","8","8"]},{"type":"OracleDatabaseStatistic","statisticValues":["control file sequential read","6","3"]},{"type":"OracleDatabaseStatistic","statisticValues":["ARCH wait for process start 3","2","2"]},{"type":"OracleDatabaseStatistic","statisticValues":["db file sequential read","9","1"]},{"type":"OracleDatabaseStatistic","statisticValues":["rdbms ipc reply","1","1"]},{"type":"OracleDatabaseStatistic","statisticValues":["JS coord start wait","1","1"]},{"type":"OracleDatabaseStatistic","statisticValues":["os thread startup","2","0"]},{"type":"OracleDatabaseStatistic","statisticValues":["Parameter File I/O","1","0"]}]},{"type":"OracleDatabaseStatsSection","sectionName":"Top SQL by CPU","columnHeaders":["Percentage of Load","SQL Statement"],"rowValues":[]}],"bctEnabled":false,"racEnabled":null,"dnfsEnabled":false,"archivelogEnabled":null},"operations":{"type":"VirtualSourceOperations","configureClone":[],"preRefresh":[],"postRefresh":[]},"mountBase":"/mnt/provision","fileMappingRules":null,"manualProvisioning":null,"configParams":{"memory_target":"1191182336","processes":"150","log_archive_dest_1":"location=/mnt/provision/VBITT/archive/ MANDATORY","_omf":"ENABLED","filesystemio_options":"setall","compatible":"11.2.0.4.0","audit_trail":"NONE","remote_login_passwordfile":"EXCLUSIVE","open_cursors":"300","audit_sys_operations":"FALSE"},"configTemplate":null,"nodeListenerList":[],"enabled":true,"role":"PRIMARY"}],"job":null,"action":null,"total":2,"overflow":false}'


We have a very big JSON string above. Let's perform some basic jq parsing.

  1. Pipe JSON string into jq command line parser.

    echo $json | jq '.'

    The output is pretty human-readable JSON formatted string.

  2. Get the first-level status value ( . . . ,"status":"OK", . . . )

    echo $json | jq '.status'
"OK"

  3. Get raw values (not quoted).

    echo $json | jq --raw-output '.status'
OK

  4. Get number of rows returned for the type equal to "ListResult" API returned request.

    echo $json | jq --raw-output '.total'
2

  5. Get first result set.

    echo $json | jq '.result[0] '
{
	"type": "OracleLinkedSource",
	"reference": "ORACLE_LINKED_SOURCE-52",
	"namespace": null,
	"name": "DPXDEV01",
	"description": null,
	"virtual": false,
	"restoration": false,
	"staging": false,
	"container": "ORACLE_DB_CONTAINER-120",
	"config": "ORACLE_SINGLE_CONFIG-40",
	"status": "DEFAULT",
	"runtime": {
		"type": "OracleSourceRuntime",
		"status": "RUNNING",
		"accessible": true,
		"databaseSize": 2409529344,
		"notAccessibleReason": null,
		"databaseMode": "READ_WRITE",
		"lastNonLoggedLocation": "0",
		"activeInstances": [
			{
				"type": "OracleActiveInstance",
				"instanceNumber": 1,
				"instanceName": "DPXDEV01",
				"hostName": "linuxtarget.delphix.local"
			}
		],
		"databaseStats": null,
		"bctEnabled": true,
		"racEnabled": null,
		"dnfsEnabled": false,
		"archivelogEnabled": null
	},
	"backupLevelEnabled": false,
	"rmanChannels": 2,
	"filesPerSet": 5,
	"checkLogical": false,
	"externalFilePath": null,
	"encryptedLinkingEnabled": false,
	"compressedLinkingEnabled": true,
	"bandwidthLimit": 0,
	"numberOfConnections": 1,
	"enabled": true,
	"preScript": "",
	"postScript": "",
	"role": "PRIMARY"
}

  6. Get first result set name value.

    echo $json | jq --raw-output '.result[0].name'
DPXDEV01

  7. Get first result set reference value.

    echo $json | jq --raw-output '.result[0].reference'

  8. Get first result set name=value pairs.

    echo $json | jq '.result[0]' | jq -r "to_entries|map(\"(.key)=(.value|tostring)\")|.[]" | grep container 


container=ORACLE_DB_CONTAINER-120

  9. Get ALL result sets name values.

    echo $json | jq '.result[].name'
"DPXDEV01"
"VBITT"

  10. Get ALL result sets "reference" and "container" values.

    echo $json | jq '.result[].reference,.result[].container'
"ORACLE_LINKED_SOURCE-52"
"ORACLE_VIRTUAL_SOURCE-25"
"ORACLE_DB_CONTAINER-120"
"ORACLE_DB_CONTAINER-121"
  11. Now, let's scan ALL result sets for a conditional match and return a related value.
echo $json | jq --raw-output '.result[] | select(.name=="VBITT") | .container' 
ORACLE_DB_CONTAINER-121

echo $json | jq --raw-output '.result[] | select(.name=="VBITT") | .reference' 
ORACLE_VIRTUAL_SOURCE-25

echo $json | jq --raw-output '.result[] | select(.name=="VBITT") | .container, .reference'
ORACLE_DB_CONTAINER-121
ORACLE_VIRTUAL_SOURCE-25


This is a typical usage for Delphix, where the human readable name is provided and we need to look up the object reference, container, status, etc. for the respective name. Some object references are based on an expressions such as "and" or "or" conditions.

echo $json | jq --raw-output '.result[] | select(.environment=="UNIX_HOST_ENVIRONMENT-9" and .name=="/u02/ora/app/product/11.2.0/dbhome_1" ) | .reference '


In this case, the jq select command has an "and" condition in order to correctly identify the target result object index. This is important for getting the correct and single return value for | .reference, since there might be more than one instance within the environment.

For a working example of using the jq JSON parser, see the VDB Init using jq Command Line JSON Parser use case, Filename: vdb_init.sh. A version of all the Unix/Linux/Mac shell scripts exists within the code provided. It contains the *_jq.sh within the filename.

PowerShell


Starting with Powershell 3.0, there are ConvertFrom-Json and ConvertTo-Json modules/commands to parse the JSON string data to/from objects. If you are stuck with Powershell 2.x., the next section provides similar functions as a method of working with JSON strings.

These 2.x functions are not 100% the same as the Powershell 3.0 ConvertFrom-Json/ConvertTo-Json modules.


PowerShell 2 Example

Filename: parse_2.0_ps1.txt (rename to parse_2.0.ps1)


For Powershell 2.0, there are no JSON-provided functions or commands, so the following will serialize the JSON data to a serialized array.

function ConvertTo-Json20([object] $item){
	add-type -assembly system.web.extensions
	$ps_js=new-object system.web.script.serialization.javascriptSerializer
	return $ps_js.Serialize($item)
}


function ConvertFrom-Json20([object] $item){ 
	add-type -assembly system.web.extensions
	$ps_js=new-object system.web.script.serialization.javascriptSerializer
	#The comma operator is the array construction operator in PowerShell return ,$ps_js.DeserializeObject($item)
}



Use the JSON from the system API Call.

$json='{"type":"OKResult","status":"OK","result":{"type":"SystemInfo","productType":"standard","productName":"Delphix Engine","buildTitle":"Delphix Engine 5.1.1.0","buildTimestamp":"20160721T07:23:41.000Z","buildVersion":{"type":"VersionInfo","major":5,"minor":1,"micro":1,"patch":0},"configured":true,"enabedFeatures":["XPP","MSSQLHOOKS"],"apiVersion":{"type":"APIVersion","major":1,"minor":8,"micro":0},"banner":null,"locals":["enUS"],"currentLocale":"enUS","hostname":"Delphix5110HWv8","sshPublicKey":"ssh-rsa AAAAB3NzaC1yc2EAAAADAQABAAABAQDOsrp7Aj6hFQh9yBq7273B+qtPKmCu1B18nPvr08yjt/IZeM4qKk7caxExQS9rpfU8AWoT7e8ESV7NkBmUzOHrHnLsuJtxPqeYoqeMubVxYjJuxlH368sZuYsnB04KM0mi39e15lxVGvxQk9tyMpl7gs7cXRz1k6puncyiczU/axGq7ALHU2uyQoVmlPasuHJbq23d21VAYLuscbtgpZLAFlR8eQH5Xqaa0RT+aQJ6B1ihZ7S0ZN914M2gZHHNYcSGDWZHwUnBGttnxx1ofRcyN4/qwT5iHq5kjApjSaNgSAU0ExqDHiqgTq0wttf5nltCqGMTFR7XY38HiNq++atDroot@Delphix5110HWv8\n","memorySize":8.58107904E9,"platform":"VMware with BIOS date 05/20/2014","uuid":"564d7e1df4cb-f91098fd348d74817683","processors":[{"type":"CPUInfo","speed":2.5E9,"cores":1}],"storageUsed":2.158171648E9,"storageTotal":2.0673724416E10,"installationTime":"2016-07-27T13:28:46.000Z"},"job":null,"action":null}'



Convert the JSON string.

The job and action are null values. 

PS> $o = ConvertFrom-Json20 $json
PS> $o
 
Key				Value
---				-----
type			OKResult
status			OK
result			{[type, SystemInfo], [productType, standard], [productNa...
job
action


Extract the result JSON string array.

PS> $a = $o.result
PS> $a
 
Key					Value
---					-----
type				SystemInfo
productType			standard
productName			Delphix Engine
buildTitle			Delphix Engine 5.1.1.0
buildTimestamp		20160721T07:23:41.000Z
buildVersion		{[type, VersionInfo], [major, 5], [minor, 1], [micro, 1]...
configured			True
enabedFeatures		{XPP, MSSQLHOOKS}
apiVersion			{[type, APIVersion], [major, 1], [minor, 8], [micro, 0]}
banner
locals				{enUS}
currentLocale		enUS
hostname			Delphix5110HWv8
sshPublicKey		ssh-rsa AAAAB3NzaC1yc2EAAAADAQABAAABAQDOsrp7Aj6hFQh9yBq7...
memorySize			8581079040
platform			VMware with BIOS date 05/20/2014
uuid				564d7e1df4cb-f91098fd348d74817683
processors			{System.Collections.Generic.Dictionary`2[System.String,S...
storageUsed			2158171648
storageTotal		20673724416
installationTime	2016-07-27T13:28:46.000Z 


foreach ($element in $a) {$element}


same output as above

PS> $a.type
SystemInfo
PS> $a.buildTitle
Delphix Engine 5.1.1.0
PS> $a.hostname
Delphix5110HWv8


Extract the result.buildVersion object.

PS> $a1 = $o.result.buildVersion
PS> $a1

Key					Value
---					-----
type				VersionInfo
major				5
minor				1
micro				1
patch				0

PS> $a1.major 
5


Extract the result.processors array collection.

PS> $b = $o.result.processors 
PS> $b 

Key						Value
---						-----	
type					CPUInfo
speed					2500000000
cores					1


PS> $a -is [Array] 
False
PS> $a -is [Object] 
True
PS> $b -is [Array] 
True


Convert Array Collection to Object.

PS> $b1 = $b | Select-Object 
PS> $b1 

Key					Value
---					------
type				CPUInfo
speed				2500000000
cores				1


PS>	$b1.type 
CPUInfo
PS> $b1.speed
2500000000

PowerShell 3 or greater Example


Starting with Powershell 3.0, there is are ConvertFrom-Json and ConvertTo-Json commands to parse the JSON data to/from objects.

Reference: https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/hh849898(v=wps.620).aspx

$o = $json | ConvertFrom-Json

There are a number of tutorials and functional examples on the web. Below is an excerpt from the Powershell introduction video for Linux / Mac Open Source announcement.

https://youtu.be/2WZwv7TxqZ0

Powershell JSON ConvertTo-Json and Python Example  15:55 through 21:16

The concept is straightforward:

  • The ConvertFrom-Json JSON string is converted into a Powershell object that you can reference directly.
  • The ConvertTo-Json takes the JSON object and converts it to a string.

JSON Parsing from within Programming Languages

Most programming languages provide their own libraries, functions, and methods for parsing JSON data strings into objects/hashes/arrays/xml that the native programming language can easily process.