Windows Linux PowerShell Equivalents Expanded guide Text Processing

Windows `PowerShell ConvertFrom-Json` equivalent in Linux

Parses JSON and selects fields, array elements or transformed output.

Reference maintained by Win-Linux.com · How mappings are evaluated

Windows PowerShell ConvertFrom-Json

→

Linux equivalents

Debian/Ubuntu same command

jq EXPRESSION file.json

Fedora same command

jq EXPRESSION file.json

Arch same command

jq EXPRESSION file.json

Overview

What this command does

On Windows, "PowerShell ConvertFrom-Json" is used to read and query JSON. On Linux, the closest practical mapping shown here is "jq EXPRESSION file.json". Parses JSON and selects fields, array elements or transformed output. This reference is grouped under PowerShell Equivalents → Text Processing.

Migration tip: <code>jq</code> is a dedicated JSON processor. Use <code>-r</code> when you want raw strings without JSON quotation marks.

Windows → Linux context

What changes when you use this on Linux?

Equivalent task, different tool

Windows PowerShell ConvertFrom-Json maps to jq EXPRESSION file.json for this task. Treat this as a workflow mapping rather than a character-for-character syntax translation.

Portable across the compared distros

The Debian/Ubuntu, Fedora and Arch rows use the same command in this mapping. Package availability or defaults can still vary, so check the installed tool version when an option behaves differently.

For the broader concept behind this mapping, read PowerShell vs Bash.

Practical tasks

Common use cases

Read and query JSON

Parses JSON and selects fields, array elements or transformed output.

jq . data.json

Pretty-print JSON

jq -r ".name" data.json

Extract one string field

jq ".items[] | select(.enabled == true)" data.json

Filter array objects

Ready to run

Copyable Linux commands

Review paths, device names, package names and permissions before running any command.

jq . data.json

jq -r ".name" data.json

jq ".items[] | select(.enabled == true)" data.json

Walkthrough

Examples with explanations

jq . data.json # format and validate JSON
jq -r ".name" data.json # extract one field
jq ".items[] | select(.enabled == true)" data.json # filter JSON objects

Reference

Common options and variations

Command or option	Use
`jq . data.json`	Pretty-print JSON
`jq -r ".name" data.json`	Extract one string field
`jq ".items[] \| select(.enabled == true)" data.json`	Filter array objects

Distro differences

Debian/Ubuntu vs Fedora vs Arch

Debian/Ubuntu, Fedora and Arch all use "jq EXPRESSION file.json" for this mapping. The command syntax shown here is portable across the three rows, although installed versions and system defaults can still vary.

Distribution	Package manager / base	Equivalent command	Difference to notice
Debian/Ubuntu	same command	`jq EXPRESSION file.json`	Same command on this distribution.
Fedora	same command	`jq EXPRESSION file.json`	Same command on this distribution.
Arch	same command	`jq EXPRESSION file.json`	Same command on this distribution.

Keep learning

What this command does

What changes when you use this on Linux?

Equivalent task, different tool

Portable across the compared distros

Common use cases

Read and query JSON

jq . data.json

jq -r ".name" data.json

jq ".items[] | select(.enabled == true)" data.json

Copyable Linux commands

Examples with explanations

Common options and variations

Debian/Ubuntu vs Fedora vs Arch

Related PowerShell Equivalents commands