Mastering Windows PowerShell Scripting - Third Edition

Export-Clixml and Import-Clixml

Export-Clixml creates representations of objects in XML files. Export-Clixml is extremely useful where type information about each property must be preserved.

For example, the following object may be exported using Export-Clixml:

[PSCustomObject]@{ 
    Number  = 1 
    Decimal = 2.3 
    String  = 'Hello world' 
} | Export-Clixml .\object.xml 

The resulting XML file shows the type for each of the properties it has just exported:

PS> Get-Content object.xml<Objs Version="1.1.0.1" xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/powershell/2004/04">  <Obj RefId="0">    <TN RefId="0">      <T>System.Management.Automation.PSCustomObject</T>      <T>System.Object</T>    </TN>    <MS>      <I32 N="Number">1</I32>      <Db N="Decimal">2.3</Db> <S N="String">Hello world</S> ...