Replace symbol in JSON with different array values - arrays

Question

I have 2 files
text.json that contains
{
"Files": [
{
"pattern": "/Something/Something/*"
},
{
"pattern": "/Something/Something/*"
},
{
"pattern": "/Something/Something/*"
},
{
"pattern": "/Something/Something/*"
},
{
"pattern": "/Something/Something/*"
},
{
"pattern": "/Something/Something/*"
}
]
}
and dlls.txt
1.dll
2.dll
..
6.dll
I want to replace the symbol * with the necessary dll like this :
"Files": [
{
"pattern": "/Something/Something/1.dll"
},
{
"pattern": "/Something/Something/2.dll"
},
.
.
.
{
"pattern": "/Something/Something/6.dll"
}
]
}
So far my code replaces the symbol but only with the last array element.

Answer 1

Since you're dealing with a structured data format - JSON - using a dedicated parser is always preferable to performing purely textual processing based on regexes.
While using the dedicated ConvertFrom-Json and ConvertTo-Json cmdlets to parse from and serialize back to JSON is slower than textual processing, it is much more robust.
# Read the DLL names from the text file into an array of strings.
$dlls = Get-Content dlls.txt
# Read the JSON file and parse it into an object.
$objFromJson = Get-Content -Raw text.json | ConvertFrom-Json
# Loop over all elements of the array in the .Files property and
# update their .pattern property based on the corresponding DLL names.
$i = 0
$objFromJson.Files.ForEach({
$_.pattern = $_.pattern -replace '(?<=/)\*$', $dlls[$i++]
})
# Convert the updated object back to JSON; save to a file as needed.
$objFromJson | ConvertTo-Json

Answer 2

Why not skip the 'C:\Users\itsan\Desktop\text.json' file alltogether and simply create a new JSON from the dll filenames you have in 'C:\Users\itsan\Desktop\dlls.txt' ?
$dlls = Get-Content -Path 'C:\Users\itsan\Desktop\dlls.txt'
$result = [PsCustomObject]#{
Files = foreach($file in $dlls) {
"" | Select-Object #{Name = 'pattern'; Expression = {"/Something/Something/$file"}}
}
}
$result | ConvertTo-Json
If you want that as new file, simply change the last line into
$result | ConvertTo-Json | Set-Content -Path 'C:\Users\itsan\Desktop\dll.json'
Output wil be like this:
{
"Files": [
{
"pattern": "/Something/Something/1.dll"
},
{
"pattern": "/Something/Something/2.dll"
},
{
"pattern": "/Something/Something/3.dll"
},
{
"pattern": "/Something/Something/4.dll"
},
{
"pattern": "/Something/Something/5.dll"
},
{
"pattern": "/Something/Something/6.dll"
}
]
}