ConvertTo-Expression.ps1
<#PSScriptInfo
.VERSION 2.7.0 .GUID 5f167621-6abe-4153-a26c-f643e1716720 .AUTHOR Ronald Bode (iRon) .DESCRIPTION Serializes an object to a PowerShell expression (PSON, PowerShell Object Notation). .COMPANYNAME .COPYRIGHT .TAGS PSON PowerShell Object Notation expression serialize .LICENSEURI https://github.com/iRon7/ConvertTo-Expression/LICENSE.txt .PROJECTURI https://github.com/iRon7/ConvertTo-Expression .ICONURI https://raw.githubusercontent.com/iRon7/ConvertTo-Expression/master/ConvertTo-Expression.png .EXTERNALMODULEDEPENDENCIES .REQUIREDSCRIPTS .EXTERNALSCRIPTDEPENDENCIES .RELEASENOTES .PRIVATEDATA #> Function ConvertTo-Expression { <# .SYNOPSIS Serializes an object to a PowerShell expression. .DESCRIPTION The ConvertTo-Expression cmdlet converts (serializes) an object to a PowerShell expression. The object can be stored in a variable, file or any other common storage for later use or to be ported to another system. Convert from expression An expression can be restored to an object by preceding it with an ampersand (&). An expression that is casted to a string can be restored to an object using the native Invoke-Expression cmdlet. An expression that is stored in a PowerShell (.ps1) file might also be directly invoked by the PowerShell dot-sourcing technique. .PARAMETER InputObject Specifies the objects to convert to a PowerShell expression. Enter a variable that contains the objects, or type a command or expression that gets the objects. You can also pipe one or more objects to ConvertTo-Expression. .PARAMETER Depth Specifies how many levels of contained objects are included in the PowerShell representation. The default value is 9. .PARAMETER Expand Specifies till what level the contained objects are expanded over separate lines and indented according to the -Indentation and -IndentChar parameters. The default value is 9. A negative value will remove redundant spaces and compress the PowerShell expression to a single line (except for multi-line strings). Xml documents and multi-line strings are embedded in a "here string" and aligned to the left. .PARAMETER Indentation Specifies how many IndentChars to write for each level in the hierarchy. .PARAMETER IndentChar Specifies which character to use for indenting. .PARAMETER TypePrefix Defines how the explicit the object type is being parsed: -TypePrefix None No type information will be added to the (embedded) objects and values in the PowerShell expression. This means that objects and values will be parsed to one of the following data types when reading them back with Invoke-Expression: a numeric value, a [String] ('...'), an [Array] (@(...)) or a [HashTable] (@{...}). -TypePrefix Native The original type prefix is added to the (embedded) objects and values in the PowerShell expression. Note that most system (.Net) objects can’t be read back with Invoke-Expression, but option might help to reveal (embedded) object types and hierarchies. -TypePrefix Cast (Default) The type prefix is only added to (embedded) objects and values when required and optimized for read back with Invoke-Expression by e.g. converting system (.Net) objects to PSCustomObject objects. Numeric values won't have a strict type and therefor parsed to the default type that fits the value when restored. -TypePrefix Strict All (embedded) objects and values will have an explicit type prefix optimized for read back with Invoke-Expression by e.g. converting system (.Net) objects to PSCustomObject objects. .PARAMETER NewLine Specifies which characters to use for a new line. The default is defined by the operating system. .PARAMETER Iteration Do not use (for internal use only). .EXAMPLE PS C:\> $Calendar = (Get-UICulture).Calendar | ConvertTo-Expression PS C:\> $Calendar [PSCustomObject]@{ 'AlgorithmType' = 'SolarCalendar' 'CalendarType' = 'Localized' 'Eras' = 1 'IsReadOnly' = $False 'MaxSupportedDateTime' = [DateTime]'9999-12-31T23:59:59.9999999' 'MinSupportedDateTime' = [DateTime]'0001-01-01T00:00:00.0000000' 'TwoDigitYearMax' = 2029 } PS C:\> &$Calendar AlgorithmType : SolarCalendar CalendarType : Localized Eras : 1 IsReadOnly : False MaxSupportedDateTime : 9999-12-31 11:59:59 PM MinSupportedDateTime : 0001-01-01 12:00:00 AM TwoDigitYearMax : 2029 .EXAMPLE PS C:\>Get-Date | Select-Object -Property * | ConvertTo-Expression | Out-File .\Now.ps1 PS C:\>$Now = .\Now.ps1 # $Now = Get-Content .\Now.Ps1 -Raw | Invoke-Expression PS C:\>$Now Date : 1963-10-07 12:00:00 AM DateTime : Monday, October 7, 1963 10:47:00 PM Day : 7 DayOfWeek : Monday DayOfYear : 280 DisplayHint : DateTime Hour : 22 Kind : Local Millisecond : 0 Minute : 22 Month : 1 Second : 0 Ticks : 619388596200000000 TimeOfDay : 22:47:00 Year : 1963 .EXAMPLE PS C:\>@{Account="User01";Domain="Domain01";Admin="True"} | ConvertTo-Expression -Expand -1 # Compress the PowerShell output @{'Admin'='True';'Account'='User01';'Domain'='Domain01'} .EXAMPLE PS C:\>WinInitProcess = Get-Process WinInit | ConvertTo-Expression # Convert the WinInit Process to a PowerShell expression .EXAMPLE PS C:\>Get-Host | ConvertTo-Expression -Depth 4 # Reveal complex object hierarchies .LINK Invoke-Expression (Alias ConvertFrom-Pson) #> [CmdletBinding()][OutputType([ScriptBlock])]Param ( [Parameter(ValueFromPipeLine = $True)][Alias('InputObject')]$Object, [Int]$Depth = 9, [Int]$Expand = 9, [Int]$Indentation = 1, [String]$IndentChar = "`t", [ValidateSet("None", "Native", "Cast", "Strict")][String]$TypePrefix = "Cast", [String]$NewLine = [System.Environment]::NewLine, [Int]$Iteration = 0 ) Begin { $NumberTypes = @{}; "byte", "int", "int16", "int32", "int64", "sbyte", "uint", "uint16", "uint32", "uint64", "float", "single", "double", "long", "decimal" | ForEach-Object {$NumberTypes[$_] = $Null} $TypeAccelerators = @{}; [PSObject].Assembly.GetType("System.Management.Automation.TypeAccelerators")::get.GetEnumerator() | ForEach-Object {$TypeAccelerators[$_.Value] = $_.Key} Function Iterate ($Value) {ConvertTo-Expression $Value $Depth $Expand $Indentation $IndentChar $TypePrefix $NewLine ($Iteration + 1)} Function Join ($Items, [String[]]$Separator, $Open, $Close) { If (($Iteration -ge $Expand) -or (@($Items).Count -le 1)) {$Open + ($Items -Join "$($Separator[0])$Space") + $Close} ElseIf ($Open) {"$Open$LineUp$Tab$($Items -Join $($Separator[-1] + $LineUp + $Tab))$LineUp$Close"} Else {$Items -Join "$($Separator[-1])$LineUp"} } Function Create-Array ($List) { If ($Iteration -lt $Depth -and $List.Count) {Join ($List | ForEach-Object {Iterate $_}) "," "@(" ")"} Else {"@()"} } Function Create-HashTable ($Dictionary, $Keys = $Dictionary.Keys) { If ($Iteration -lt $Depth -and $Keys.Count) {Join ($Keys | ForEach-Object {"'$_'$Space=$Space" + (Iterate $Dictionary.$_)}) ";", "" "@{" "}"} Else {"@{}"} } Function Create-PSObject ($Properties) { Create-HashTable $Object (&{ForEach ($Name in ($Properties | Select-Object -Expand "Name")) {$Object.PSObject.Properties | Where-Object {$_.Name -eq $Name -and $_.IsGettable} | Select-Object -Expand "Name"}}) } $Items = @() } Process { $Items += If ($Null -eq $Object) {"`$Null"} Else { $Space = If ($Iteration -gt $Expand) {""} Else {" "}; $Tab = $IndentChar * $Indentation; $LineUp = "$NewLine$($Tab * $Iteration)" $SystemType = $Object.GetType(); $Type = $TypeAccelerators.$SystemType; If (!$Type) {$Type = $SystemType.FullName}; $Parse = $Type; $Cast = $Null; $Enumerator = $Object.GetEnumerator.OverloadDefinitions $Pson = If ($Object -is [Boolean]) {If ($Object) {'$True'} Else {'$False'}} ElseIf ($NumberTypes.ContainsKey($Type)) {"$Object"} ElseIf ($Object -is [String]) {If ($Object -Match "[`r`n]") {"@'$NewLine$Object$NewLine'@$NewLine"} Else {"'$($Object.Replace('''', ''''''))'"}} ElseIf ($Object -is [DateTime]) {$Cast = $Type; "'$($Object.ToString('o'))'"} ElseIf ($Object -is [Version]) {$Cast = $Type; "'$Object'"} ElseIf ($Object -is [ScriptBlock]) {If ($Object -Match "\#.*?$") {"{$Object$NewLine}"} Else {"{$Object}"}} ElseIf ($Object -is [RuntimeTypeHandle]) {$Object.Value} ElseIf ($Object -is [IntPtr]) {$Cast = $Type; "$Object"} ElseIf ($Object -is [Xml]) {$Cast = $Type; $SW = New-Object System.IO.StringWriter; $XW = New-Object System.Xml.XmlTextWriter $SW $XW.Formatting = If ($Level -gt $Expand) {"None"} Else {"Indented"}; $XW.Indentation = $Indentation; $XW.IndentChar = $IndentChar $Object.WriteContentTo($XW); If ($Level -gt $Expand) {"'$SW'"} Else {"@'$NewLine$SW$NewLine'@$NewLine"}} ElseIf ($SystemType.Name -eq "DictionaryEntry") {$Cast = "PSObject"; Create-PSObject ($Object | Get-Member -Type Property)} ElseIf ($SystemType.Name -like "KeyValuePair*") {$Cast = "PSObject"; Create-PSObject ($Object | Get-Member -Type Property)} ElseIf ($SystemType.Name -eq "OrderedDictionary") {$Cast = "Ordered"; Create-HashTable $Object} ElseIf ($Enumerator -match "[\W]IDictionaryEnumerator[\W]") {$Parse = "Hashtable"; Create-HashTable $Object} ElseIf ($Enumerator -match "[\W]IEnumerator[\W]" -or $Object.GetType().Name -eq "DataTable") {$Parse = "Array"; Create-Array $Object} ElseIf ($Object -is [ValueType]) {$Cast = $Type; "'$($Object)'"} Else {$Properties = $Object | Get-Member -Type Property; If (!$Properties) {$Properties = $Object | Get-Member -Type NoteProperty} If ($Properties) {$Cast = "PSObject"; Create-PSObject $Properties} Else {$Cast = "Void"; "'$Object'"} } Switch ($TypePrefix) { 'None' {"$Pson"} 'Native' {"[$Type]$Pson"} 'Cast' {If ($Cast) {"[$Cast]$Pson"} Else {"$Pson"}} 'Strict' {If ($Cast) {"[$Cast]$Pson"} Else {"[$Parse]$Pson"}} } } } End {If ($Iteration) {$Items} Else {[ScriptBlock]::Create((Join $Items ","))}} } Set-Alias pson ConvertTo-Expression; Set-Alias ctex ConvertTo-Expression Set-Alias ConvertTo-Pson ConvertTo-Expression -Description "Serializes an object to a PowerShell expression." Set-Alias ConvertFrom-Pson Invoke-Expression -Description "Parses a PowerShell expression to an object." |