Using PowerShell how to replace and save a value in a json file having comments

Question

I have a Json file having multiple comments and I want to replace a value in it.

I tried the below and it gives me a json file without comments. But I don't understand how to change the value and save it back with comments. Is this even possible because we are replacing all the comments with empty lines?

$json = Get-Content $jsonfile -Raw | ConvertFrom-Json
$configfile = $json -replace '(?m)(?<=^([^"]|"[^"]*")*)//.*' -replace '(?ms)/\*.*?\*/'

My config.json is as below and I want to change the value of "version" to 10 through a powershell script and then save it back with the comments intact.

    {
        "FramewokSettings": {
            "Name": "VX",
            "Version": "8",  // The value here is not constant. It can be something like v1.4.56.456 also
            "GitVersion": "v5",
            "DatabaseVersion": "7",
            // Doing xyz 
            "CounterVersion": "2"
            // Doing ABC. 
            // Start
         }
}

(Get-Content $jsonfile) -replace '(?<=^\s*"Version"\s*:\s*")[^"]*(?="\s*$)', '10' | Set-Content $jsonfile? — Wiktor Stribiżew
– Wiktor Stribiżew, Commented Oct 22, 2021 at 21:25
Thanks for the reply @WiktorStribiżew. I am a newbee to regex and I tried the above and get Cannot bind argument to parameter 'Path' because it is null. — kat
– kat, Commented Oct 22, 2021 at 21:35
@kat, before running Wiktor's code you first need to set $jsonfile = .\path\to\your\file. — Daniel
– Daniel, Commented Oct 22, 2021 at 21:42
You can preserve comments starting with PowerShell version 6. Are you using version 6 or greater? — Gregory Shields
– Gregory Shields, Commented Oct 22, 2021 at 21:51
I see, my suggestion did not work due to the fact there is a comma and a comment after ", the (?="\s*$) should be either (?=") or removed. — Wiktor Stribiżew
– Wiktor Stribiżew, Commented Oct 23, 2021 at 10:14

Ryszard Czech · Accepted Answer · 2021-10-22 22:32:50Z

1

Use

(Get-Content test.txt) -replace '^(\s*"Version"\s*:\s*")[^"]*', '${1}10' | Set-Content test.txt

See proof.

EXPLANATION

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
  ^                        the beginning of the string
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
  (                        group and capture to $1:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \s*                      whitespace (0 or more times (matching the most
                             amount possible))
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
    "Version"                '"Version"'
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \s*                      whitespace (0 or more times (matching the most
                             amount possible))
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
    :                        ':'
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \s*                      whitespace (0 or more times (matching the most
                             amount possible))
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
    "                        '"'
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
  )                        end of $1
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
  [^"]*                    any character except: '"' (0 or more times
                           (matching the most amount possible))

answered Oct 22, 2021 at 22:32

Ryszard Czech

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2 Comments

kat Over a year ago

If I have to replace the new value as a variable ($somenumber instead of the constant 10) How do I do that? I tried replacing 10 with $somenumber and it replaces with $somenumber instead of the value assigned to the variable `somenumber.

Ryszard Czech Over a year ago

@kat There are mutiple ways. '${1}' + $somenumber is IMHO the simplest. "`${1}$somenumber" is also a way.

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