powershell-yaml

This powershell module is a thin wrapper on top of YamlDotNet that serializes and un-serializes simple powershell objects to and from YAML. It was tested on powershell versions 4 and 5, supports Nano Server and aparently works with powershell on Linux. I suspect it works on Mac as well, but I have not had a chance to test it.

The lib folder contains the YamlDotNet assemblies. They are not really required, just a fall-back in case your system does not already have them installed and loaded. Feel free to remove the lib folder if you prefer to add the required assemblies yourself.

Installation

This module is available for installation via Powershell Gallery. Simply run the following command:

Install-Module powershell-yaml

ConvertTo-Yaml

Import-Module powershell-yaml

PS C:\> $yaml = ConvertTo-Yaml @{"hello"="world"; "anArray"=@(1,2,3); "nested"=@{"array"=@("this", "is", "an", "array")}}
PS C:\> $yaml
anArray:
- 1
- 2
- 3
nested:
  array:
  - this
  - is
  - an
  - array
hello: world

ConvertFrom-Yaml

Single YAML document

Import-Module powershell-yaml

PS C:\> $yaml = @"
anArray:
- 1
- 2
- 3
nested:
  array:
  - this
  - is
  - an
  - array
hello: world
"@

PS C:\> $obj = ConvertFrom-Yaml $yaml
PS C:\> $obj

Name                           Value
----                           -----
anArray                        {1, 2, 3}
nested                         {array}
hello                          world

PS C:\> $obj.GetType()

IsPublic IsSerial Name                                     BaseType
-------- -------- ----                                     --------
True     True     Hashtable                                System.Object

Multiple YAML documents

Unserializing multiple documents results in an array representing the contents of each document. The result of this does not translate back to the same documents if you pass it back through ConvertTo-Yaml.

Import-Module powershell-yaml

PS C:\> $yaml = @"
---
anArray:
- 1
- 2
- 3
nested:
  array:
  - this
  - is
  - an
  - array
hello: world
---
second: document
goodbye: world
"@

PS C:\> $obj = ConvertFrom-Yaml $yaml -AllDocuments
PS C:\> $obj

Name                           Value
----                           -----
anArray                        {1, 2, 3}
nested                         {array}
hello                          world
goodbye                        world
second                         document

PS C:\> $obj.GetType()

IsPublic IsSerial Name                                     BaseType
-------- -------- ----                                     --------
True     True     Object[]                                 System.Array

PS C:\> $obj[0]

Name                           Value
----                           -----
anArray                        {1, 2, 3}
nested                         {array}
hello                          world

PS C:\> $obj[1]

Name                           Value
----                           -----
goodbye                        world
second                         document

Converting from YAML to JSON

The awesome YamlDotNet assembly allows us to serialize an object in a JSON compatible way. Unfortunately it does not support indentation. Here is a simple example:

Import-Module powershell-yaml

PS C:\> $yaml = @"
anArray:
- 1
- 2
- 3
nested:
  array:
  - this
  - is
  - an
  - array
hello: world
"@

PS C:\> $obj = ConvertFrom-Yaml $yaml
PS C:\> $obj

Name                           Value
----                           -----
anArray                        {1, 2, 3}
nested                         {array}
hello                          world

PS C:\> ConvertTo-Yaml -JsonCompatible $obj
{"anArray": [1, 2, 3], "nested": {"array": ["this", "is", "an", "array"]}, "hello": "world"}

# Or you could do it in one line.
PS C:\> ConvertFrom-Yaml $yaml | ConvertTo-Yaml -JsonCompatible
{"anArray": [1, 2, 3], "nested": {"array": ["this", "is", "an", "array"]}, "hello": "world"}

Running the tests.

Before running the associated unit tests; please make sure you have Pester installed, as it is the testing framework of choice.

After Pester is up and running, the tests may be ran by simply entering the tests directory and running Invoke-Pester:

PS C:\> git clone https://github.com/cloudbase/powershell-yaml.git $HOME\powershell-yaml
PS C:\> cd $HOME\powershell-yaml
PS C:\Users\Guest\powershell-yaml> powershell.exe -NonInteractive -Command {Invoke-Pester}