Sorting values is important in any programming language. To do this in PowerShell you can use the Sort-Object command. By default the sort is done in ascending order and case insensitive.
Here are some examples how to sort data in PowerShell.
Sort by value
$names = @("Muffin","Romeo","Noodle","Zoe","Jack","Luna","Gracie","mittens","Phoebe","Peanut","Harley","Jake")
$names | Sort-Object
The result:
Gracie
Harley
Jack
Jake
Luna
mittens
Muffin
Noodle
Peanut
Phoebe
Romeo
Zoe
Sort by descending order
By default any data is sorted in ascending order. To sort in descending order you can use the -Descending parameter.
$names = @("Muffin","Romeo","Noodle","Zoe","Jack","Luna","Gracie","mittens","Phoebe","Peanut","Harley","Jake")
$names | Sort-Object -Descending
The result:
Zoe
Romeo
Phoebe
Peanut
Noodle
Muffin
mittens
Luna
Jake
Jack
Harley
Gracie
The same can be done with a -Ascending parameter to sort in ascending order.
Sort by case sensitivity
By default the sort is done in case insensitive order, but you are able to change this with the -CaseSensitive parameter.
$names = @("Muffin","muffin","Noodle","Zoe","zoe","Luna","Gracie","peanut","Phoebe","Peanut","Harley","Jake")
$names | Sort-Object -CaseSensitive
The result:
Gracie
Harley
Jake
Luna
muffin
Muffin
Noodle
peanut
Peanut
Phoebe
zoe
Zoe
Sort by unique values
You are able to sort the object in an array and remove all duplicates in the process using the -Unique parameter.
$names = @("Muffin","muffin","Noodle","Zoe","zoe","Luna","Gracie","peanut","Phoebe","Peanut","Harley","Jake")
$names | Sort-Object -Unique
The result is:
Gracie
Harley
Jake
Luna
muffin
Noodle
Peanut
Phoebe
zoe
The values are sorted in an ascending order and case insensitive.
Sort by property
If an object in an array has any properties, you are able to sort by those properties using the -Property parameter.
$files = Get-ChildItem -Path $env:TEMP
$files | Sort-Object -Property LastWriteTime | Where-Object{$_.PSIsContainer -eq $false}
The result would look something like this:
Directory: C:\Users\Sander\AppData\Local\Temp
Mode LastWriteTime Length Name
---- ------------- ------ ----
-a---- 1/30/2020 1:30 PM 999 nsd8F8A.tmp
-a---- 11/5/2020 9:52 AM 339816 Chipset.dll
-a---- 1/13/2022 9:57 AM 15021 nscA6CC.tmp
-a---- 3/25/2022 8:12 PM 942 wctBA18.tmp
-a---- 3/25/2022 8:12 PM 942 wct5787.tmp
-a---- 3/25/2022 8:12 PM 942 wctEF84.tmp
-a---- 3/28/2022 9:21 AM 3192224 94e81122-594d-4910-b16b-3c9d9b28bff1.tmp
-a---- 3/28/2022 7:49 PM 1825 wct3C2A.tmp
-a---- 3/28/2022 7:49 PM 1825 wct9D9A.tmp
-a---- 3/29/2022 10:15 AM 0 况 mat-debug-35588.log
-a---- 3/29/2022 10:16 AM 0 况 mat-debug-26716.log
-a---- 3/29/2022 10:22 AM 0 况 mat-debug-20228.log
-a---- 3/29/2022 11:22 AM 0 况 mat-debug-15472.log
-a---- 3/29/2022 12:22 PM 0 况 mat-debug-18972.log
-a---- 3/29/2022 1:22 PM 0 况 mat-debug-7244.log
-a---- 3/29/2022 1:22 PM 0 况 mat-debug-33388.log
-a---- 3/29/2022 2:22 PM 0 况 mat-debug-28752.log
-a---- 3/29/2022 2:25 PM 57833 wct2B1F.tmp