Iterate over PSObject properties in PowerShell

Question

I have this PSObject (from XML):

bool : {IsActive, ShowOnB2C, ShowOnB2B, IsWebNews}
str  : {id, ProductId, GroupName, Unit...}
int  : {ProductIdNumeric, Prices_SalesOne, Prices_Treater, Prices_B2C...}
arr  : {EnvironmentBrands, Catalogs, NavisionLevels}
long : long

I would like to iterate over the properties without using the property names, for instance bool.

I have tried to index into the object like this:

$document[0]

But that gives me nothing, but it does not cause any errors either.

Select-Object kind of works, but then I have to use the property names, and I don't want that.

$documents | Select-Object bool,str

ForEach do not iterate the properties.

$documents | ForEach {
    $_.name
}

returns doc and that is the name of the tag (XML) holding the bools, ints, and strings.

You might have a look at Get-Member cmdlet.

stej
– stej

2016-06-07 20:29:47 +00:00
Commented Jun 7, 2016 at 20:29 — stej
– stej, Commented Jun 7, 2016 at 20:29

briantist · Accepted Answer · 2023-09-04 15:19:49Z

162

This is possible using the intrinisc member PSObject (see also):

$documents.PSObject.Properties | ForEach-Object {
    $_.Name
    $_.Value
}

This won't work with certain PowerShell-created objects (PSObjects) that contain "NoteProperties" (properties of type NoteProperty).

See this answer for a method that covers all property types.

edited Sep 4, 2023 at 15:19

answered Jun 7, 2016 at 20:29

briantist

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6 Comments

user1359448 Over a year ago

$documents.PSObject.Properties | ForEach-Object iterates the original object although $documents is a subset of the original XML object $documents = $responseContent.ChildNodes.result.doc

Blaisem Over a year ago

This won't work for PSCustomObjects that have NoteProperty members instead of Property members like the object output from a cmdlet. You have to use the get-member syntax shown in the other answer below to cover all variations of object properties.

briantist Over a year ago

Thanks @Blaisem I've updated this answer with a link to the other.

Ole Over a year ago

The .PSObject is an intrinsic member and is documented here: about_intrinsic_members

Kyle Delaney Over a year ago

I don't know if something changed but this is working for NoteProperties for me

|

Peter Mortensen · Accepted Answer · 2018-12-06 21:00:10Z

32

I prefer using foreach to loop through PowerShell objects:

foreach($object_properties in $obj.PsObject.Properties)
{
    # Access the name of the property
    $object_properties.Name

    # Access the value of the property
    $object_properties.Value
}

Generally, foreach has higher performance than Foreach-Object.

And yes, foreach is actually different than Foreach-Object under the hood.

edited Dec 6, 2018 at 21:00

Peter Mortensen

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answered Oct 5, 2017 at 16:23

Kellen Stuart

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Comments

js2010 · Accepted Answer · 2020-04-19 17:22:48Z

20

You might need NoteProperty too with Get-Member.

$documents | Get-Member -membertype property,noteproperty | 
  Foreach name

EDIT: type "properties" seems a more generic catchall

$documents | get-member -type properties | % name

EDIT: dump out all the values:

$obj = ls test.ps1
$obj | Get-Member -Type properties | foreach name | 
  foreach { $_ + ' = ' + $obj.$_ }

Attributes = Normal
CreationTime = 06/01/2019 11:29:03
CreationTimeUtc = 06/01/2019 15:29:03
Directory = /Users/js
DirectoryName = /Users/js
Exists = True
Extension = .ps1
FullName = /Users/js/test.ps1
IsReadOnly = False
LastAccessTime = 06/05/2019 23:19:01
LastAccessTimeUtc = 06/06/2019 03:19:01
LastWriteTime = 06/01/2019 11:29:03
LastWriteTimeUtc = 06/01/2019 15:29:03
Length = 55
Name = test.ps1

An alternative way without "| foreach name", that needs extra parentheses:

$obj | Get-Member -Type properties | 
  foreach { $_.name + ' = ' + $obj.($_.name) }

Another take which results in an array that's easier to work with, and might be good for objects converted from json:

$a = '{ prop1:1, prop2:2, prop3:3 }' | convertfrom-json     
$a

prop1 prop2 prop3
----- ----- -----
    1     2     3

$a.PSObject.Properties | select name,value

name  value
----  -----
prop1     1
prop2     2
prop3     3

edited Apr 19, 2020 at 17:22

answered Dec 21, 2017 at 17:40

js2010

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1 Comment

Blaisem Over a year ago

This is the general answer. The $object.psobject.properties only works with objects output from a cmdlet. PSCustomObjects use NoteProperties and will require the | gm -MemberType NoteProperty syntax, or -MemberType properties which will work for objects with either properties or noteproperties.

Peter Mortensen · Accepted Answer · 2018-12-06 20:59:02Z

7

Like stej mentioned, there is the Get-Member cmdlet with a -MemberType parameter you can use:

$documents | Get-Member -MemberType Property | ForEach-Object {
    $_.Name
}

edited Dec 6, 2018 at 20:59

Peter Mortensen

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answered Jun 8, 2016 at 6:31

Martin Brandl

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2 Comments

Brain2000 Over a year ago

How do you get the value with get-member?

stackprotector Over a year ago

@Brain2000 You could parse it from $_.Definition or use $_.Name to reference the property of your object: $documents.($_.Name). But I would rather go for the solutions of briantist and Kolob Canyon.

Rogier Langeveld · Accepted Answer · 2019-12-05 10:31:29Z

I use the following command to enumerate the properties and put them in a table:

$Object.PSObject.Properties | Format-Table @{ Label = 'Type'; Expression = { "[$($($_.TypeNameOfValue).Split('.')[-1])]" } }, Name, Value -AutoSize -Wrap

I wrote the following function around this, that iterates through nested properties as well.

function Enumerate-ObjectProperties {
    param (
        [psobject] $Object,
        [string] $Root
    )

    Write-Output $($Object.PSObject.Properties | Format-Table @{ Label = 'Type'; Expression = { "[$($($_.TypeNameOfValue).Split('.')[-1])]" } }, Name, Value -AutoSize -Wrap | Out-String)

    foreach ($Property in $Object.PSObject.Properties) {
        # Strings always have a single property "Length". Do not enumerate this.
        if (($Property.TypeNameOfValue -ne 'System.String') -and ($($Object.$($Property.Name).PSObject.Properties))) {
            $NewRoot = $($($Root + '.' + $($Property.Name)).Trim('.'))
            Write-Output "Property: $($NewRoot)"
            Enumerate-ObjectProperties -Object $($Object.$($Property.Name)) -Root $NewRoot
        }
    }
}

Enumerate-ObjectProperties $YourObject

However please do keep in mind that some object are constructed somewhat typical, in the sense that they have 'loops' in their nesting. Subproperties that refer to parent objects. An example being:

Get-Date 'somebogusdata'
Enumerate-ObjectProperties $Error[0]

This will create a loop. You could of course add a 'depth' parameter to add a depth counter, specifying you only want to go to a certain depth. That would look something like this:

$script:Level = 1
function Enumerate-ObjectProperties {
    param (
        [psobject] $Object,
        [int32] $Depth = 1,
        [string] $Root
    )

    Write-Output $($Object.PSObject.Properties | Format-Table @{ Label = 'Type'; Expression = { "[$($($_.TypeNameOfValue).Split('.')[-1])]" } }, Name, Value -AutoSize -Wrap | Out-String)

    foreach ($Property in $Object.PSObject.Properties) {
        # Strings always have a single property "Length". Do not enumerate this.
        if (($Property.TypeNameOfValue -ne 'System.String') -and ($($Object.$($Property.Name).PSObject.Properties)) -and ($Level -le $Depth)) {
            $NewRoot = $($($Root + '.' + $($Property.Name)).Trim('.'))
            $Level++
            Write-Output "Property: $($NewRoot) (Level: $Level)"
            Enumerate-ObjectProperties -Object $($Object.$($Property.Name)) -Root $NewRoot
            $Level--
        }
    }
}

Enumerate-ObjectProperties -Object $Error[0] -Depth 2

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