Replace symbol in JSON with different array values

Question

I have 2 files text.json that contains

{
    "Files": [
        {
            "pattern": "/Something/Something/*"
        },
        {
            "pattern": "/Something/Something/*"
        },
        {
            "pattern": "/Something/Something/*"
        },
        {
            "pattern": "/Something/Something/*"
        },
        {
            "pattern": "/Something/Something/*"
        },
        {
            "pattern": "/Something/Something/*"
        }
    ]
}

and dlls.txt

1.dll
2.dll
..
6.dll

I want to replace the symbol * with the necessary dll like this :

"Files": [
        {
            "pattern": "/Something/Something/1.dll"
        },
        {
            "pattern": "/Something/Something/2.dll"
        },
       .
       .
       .
        {
            "pattern": "/Something/Something/6.dll"
        }
    ]
}

So far my code replaces the symbol but only with the last array element.

mklement0 · Accepted Answer · 2020-07-14 20:19:32Z

2

Since you're dealing with a structured data format - JSON - using a dedicated parser is always preferable to performing purely textual processing based on regexes.

While using the dedicated ConvertFrom-Json and ConvertTo-Json cmdlets to parse from and serialize back to JSON is slower than textual processing, it is much more robust.

# Read the DLL names from the text file into an array of strings.
$dlls = Get-Content dlls.txt

# Read the JSON file and parse it into an object.
$objFromJson = Get-Content -Raw text.json | ConvertFrom-Json

# Loop over all elements of the array in the .Files property and
# update their .pattern property based on the corresponding DLL names.
$i = 0
$objFromJson.Files.ForEach({ 
  $_.pattern = $_.pattern -replace '(?<=/)\*$', $dlls[$i++] 
})

# Convert the updated object back to JSON; save to a file as needed.
$objFromJson | ConvertTo-Json

edited Jul 14, 2020 at 20:19

answered Jul 14, 2020 at 20:14

mklement0

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2 Comments

Baequiraheal Over a year ago

Previously I tried to convert from json, but I couldn't get the raw data because of wrong syntax. Thank you, that solves everything :)

mklement0 Over a year ago

Glad to hear the answer helped, @ИванЦанев; my pleasure.

Theo · Accepted Answer · 2020-07-14 20:11:09Z

1

Why not skip the 'C:\Users\itsan\Desktop\text.json' file alltogether and simply create a new JSON from the dll filenames you have in 'C:\Users\itsan\Desktop\dlls.txt' ?

$dlls = Get-Content -Path 'C:\Users\itsan\Desktop\dlls.txt'

$result = [PsCustomObject]@{
    Files = foreach($file in $dlls) {
        "" | Select-Object @{Name = 'pattern'; Expression = {"/Something/Something/$file"}}
    }
}
$result | ConvertTo-Json

If you want that as new file, simply change the last line into

$result | ConvertTo-Json | Set-Content -Path 'C:\Users\itsan\Desktop\dll.json'

Output wil be like this:

{
    "Files":  [
                  {
                      "pattern":  "/Something/Something/1.dll"
                  },
                  {
                      "pattern":  "/Something/Something/2.dll"
                  },
                  {
                      "pattern":  "/Something/Something/3.dll"
                  },
                  {
                      "pattern":  "/Something/Something/4.dll"
                  },
                  {
                      "pattern":  "/Something/Something/5.dll"
                  },
                  {
                      "pattern":  "/Something/Something/6.dll"
                  }
              ]
}

answered Jul 14, 2020 at 20:11

Theo

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2 Comments

Baequiraheal Over a year ago

The problem is that I have 80+ .dlls and the pattern is different on every line.

Theo Over a year ago

@ИванЦанев Aha, you didn't make that clear in the question. In that case, accept mklement0's answer

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