PowerShell : retrieve JSON object by field value

Question

Consider JSON in this format :

\"Stuffs\": [
    {
        \"Name\": \"Darts\",
        \"Type\": \"Fun Stuff\"
    },
    {
        \"Name\": \"Clean Toilet         


        

Answer 1

In regards to PowerShell 5.1 (this is so much easier in PowerShell 7)...

Operating off the assumption that we have a file named jsonConfigFile.json with the following content from your post:

{
    "Stuffs": [
        {
            "Name": "Darts",
            "Type": "Fun Stuff"
        },
        {
            "Name": "Clean Toilet",
            "Type": "Boring Stuff"
        }
    ]
}

This will create an ordered hashtable from a JSON file to help make retrieval easier:

$json = [ordered]@{}

(Get-Content "jsonConfigFile.json" -Raw | ConvertFrom-Json).PSObject.Properties |
    ForEach-Object { $json[$_.Name] = $_.Value }

$json.Stuffs will list a nice hashtable, but it gets a little more complicated from here. Say you want the Type key's value associated with the Clean Toilet key, you would retrieve it like this:

$json.Stuffs.Where({$_.Name -eq "Clean Toilet"}).Type

It's a pain in the ass, but if your goal is to use JSON on a barebones Windows 10 installation, this is the best way to do it as far as I've found.