JavaScript Object Notation (JSON) is a lightweight, text-based, open standard that is designed for data interchange. It is language-independent, with parsers available for Windows PowerShell.

The JSON format is often used to serialize and transmit structured data over a network connection. It is used primarily to transmit data between a server and a web application, as an alternative to XML.

You can use the following link to validate the JSON format:

http://jsonformatter.curiousconcept.com/

Here is a simple example of the JSON Format:

{
    "Title":  "Mr.",
    "Name":  "Scripting"
}

Windows PowerShell has two cmdlets: ConvertFrom-Json and ConvertTo-Json. Take a look at the following image:

As the name reads, it converts to and from. Let's take a look at how the following code works:

$json = @"
{
    "Title":  "Mr.",
    "Name":  "Scripting"
}
"@
$json | ConvertFrom-Json

Now, consider the following image:

The steps performed in the figure we just saw is explained as follows:

Take a look at the following image:

Using JSON cmdlets, we can manipulate the contents as required:

$json = @"
{
    "User1": {"Name": "Chen", "Role": "SharePoint IT Pro"}, "User2": {"Name":"Keanu"}
}
"@
$data = $json | ConvertFrom-Json
$data.User1
$data.User2

Now, consider the following image:

It's easy to read a JSON file in PowerShell. Let's consider that we have a JSON file, as follows:

{
"1": "One",
"2": "Two",
"3": "Three"
} 
$data = Get-Content C:TempJSON.json -Raw | ConvertFrom-Json
$data.psobject.Properties.Name

The preceding code will provide the output as 1, 2, and 3.