{"id":10751,"date":"2006-04-25T12:18:00","date_gmt":"2006-04-25T12:18:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.msdn.microsoft.com\/powershell\/2006\/04\/25\/working-with-sort-object-cmdlet\/"},"modified":"2019-02-18T13:25:01","modified_gmt":"2019-02-18T20:25:01","slug":"working-with-sort-object-cmdlet","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/devblogs.microsoft.com\/powershell\/working-with-sort-object-cmdlet\/","title":{"rendered":"Working with Sort-Object Cmdlet"},"content":{"rendered":"

In this blog I will try to explain different features of sort-object(Sort) cmdlet. For the purpose of this blog, I assume the following objects exist:<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

MSH C:\\temp\\monad> $a,$b,$c,$d<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

                                  <\/span>Score Name<\/p>\n

                           <\/span>       <\/span>—– —-<\/p>\n

                                    <\/span>100 John<\/p>\n

                                     <\/span>90 Henry<\/p>\n

                                     <\/span>90 Tom<\/p>\n

                                     <\/span>80 David<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

From the definition Sort looks like:<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

MSH C:\\temp\\monad> (get-command sort-object).Definition<\/p>\n

sort-object [[-Property] Object[]] [-Descending] [-Unique] [-InputObject MshObj<\/p>\n

ect] [-Culture String] [-CaseSensitive] [-Verbose] [-Debug] [-ErrorAction Actio<\/p>\n

nPreference] [-ErrorVariable String] [-OutVariable String] [-OutBuffer Int32]<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The basic usage looks like:<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

<expression> | sort <property><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Sort works on a collection of input objects possibly coming over from a pipeline.<\/span> Sort will collect all the input objects from the pipeline and then sorts the objects based on other parameters like Property, Descending, Unique etc. <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Example: To sort objects based on Score<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

MSH C:\\temp\\monad> $a,$b,$c,$d | sort score<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

                                  <\/span>Score Name<\/p>\n

                                  <\/span>—– —-<\/p>\n

                   <\/span>                  <\/span>80 David<\/p>\n

                                     <\/span>90 Tom<\/p>\n

                                     <\/span>90 Henry<\/p>\n

                                    <\/span>100 John<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Example: To sort objects based on Name<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

MSH C:\\temp\\monad> $a,$b,$c,$d | sort Name<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

         <\/span>                         <\/span>Score Name<\/p>\n

                                  <\/span>—– —-<\/p>\n

                                     <\/span>80 David<\/p>\n

                                     <\/span>90 Henry<\/p>\n

                                    <\/span>100 John<\/p>\n

                                     <\/span>90 Tom<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Example: To sort objects in descending order based on Score<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

MSH C:\\temp\\monad> $a,$b,$c,$d | sort Score -Descending<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

                                  <\/span>Score Name<\/p>\n

                                  <\/span>—– —-<\/p>\n

                                    <\/span>100 John<\/p>\n

                                     <\/span>90 Tom<\/p>\n

                                     <\/span>90 Henry<\/p>\n

                                     <\/span>80 David<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Ok, this is all simple and you might yourself have already explored all this. Let us get into some tricky stuff. How to sort on Score (descending order) and Name (ascending order)<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Example: sort on Score descending and then Name ascending <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

MSH C:\\temp\\monad> $a,$b,$c,$d | sort @{expression=”Score”;Descending=$true},@{e<\/p>\n

xpression=”Name”;Ascending=$true}<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

             <\/span>                     <\/span>Score Name<\/p>\n

                                  <\/span>—– —-<\/p>\n

                                    <\/span>100 John<\/p>\n

                                     <\/span>90 Henry<\/p>\n

                                     <\/span>90 Tom<\/p>\n

                                     <\/span>80 David<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Notice the use of @{expression=\u2026}. If you notice the definition of sort-object, the parameter Property takes in a object[].  <\/span>Property parameter can take entries of form <string> or hashtable (notice @). If the input is a hashtable, then Sort cmdlet specifically looks for \u201cexpression\u201d,\u201dascending\u201d,\u201ddescending\u201d keys. Ascending and Descending can take only Booleans ( i.e., $true or $false ). Using expression you can do many things.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

For example, lets say Henry is very punctual and very dedicated and you wanted to give some additional marks (lets say 2 marks) to encourage him.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Example:<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

MSH C:\\temp\\monad> $a,$b,$c,$d | sort @{expression={if ($_.Name -eq “Henry”) { $<\/p>\n

_.Score += 2 }}},Score -Descending<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

                                  <\/span>Score Name<\/p>\n

             <\/span>                     <\/span>—– —-<\/p>\n

                                    <\/span>100 John<\/p>\n

                                     <\/span>92 Henry<\/p>\n

                                     <\/span>90 Tom<\/p>\n

                                     <\/span>80 David<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Notice the use of Script for expression. In the above example, I changed the original object itself by using $_ and then sorted on Score<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

MSH C:\\temp\\monad> $b<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

                                  <\/span>Score Name<\/p>\n

                                  <\/span>—– —-<\/p>\n

                                     <\/span>92 Henry<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Using Script block you can do many things like computing Grades and then sorting on Grade.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

MSH C:\\temp\\monad> $a,$b,$c,$d | sort Grade,@{expression={if ($_.Score -gt 91) {<\/p>\n

$Grade=”A” } else {$Grade=”B” }; add-member noteproperty “Grade” $Grade -InputOb<\/p>\n

ject $_}} -Descending<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

                     <\/span>Score Name                       <\/span>Grade<\/p>\n

                     <\/span>—– —-                       <\/span>—–<\/p>\n

                        <\/span>90 Tom                        <\/span>B<\/p>\n

                        <\/span>80 David                      <\/span>B<\/p>\n

   <\/span>                    <\/span>100 John                       <\/span>A<\/p>\n

                        <\/span>92 Henry                      <\/span>A<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Sort in its simplest form is very useful. Using expressions effectively makes it more powerful.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

One last thing, a number of you has asked how to sort a hashtable using Sort-Object cmdlet.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

MSH C:\\temp\\monad> $hash=@{“Tom”=90;”Henry”=90;”David”=80;”John”=100}<\/p>\n

MSH C:\\temp\\monad> $hash | sort value -descending<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Name                           <\/span>Value<\/p>\n

—-                           <\/span>—–<\/p>\n

Henry            <\/span>              <\/span>90<\/p>\n

Tom                            <\/span>90<\/p>\n

David                          <\/span>80<\/p>\n

John                           <\/span>100<\/p>\n

This will not work as there is only one object on the pipeline and sort-object does not have anything to sort. However use GetEnumerator() on HashTable to write all the hash entries to the pipeline and then use sort.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

MSH C:\\temp\\monad> $hash.GetEnumerator() | sort value -descending<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Name                           <\/span>Value<\/p>\n

—-                           <\/span>—–<\/p>\n

John                           <\/span>100<\/p>\n

Tom                            <\/span>90<\/p>\n

Henry                          <\/span>90<\/p>\n

David                          <\/span>80<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

-Krishna[MSFT]<\/p>\n

[Edit: Monad has now been renamed to Windows PowerShell. This script or discussion may require slight adjustments before it applies directly to newer builds.<\/i>]<\/p>\n

PSMDTAG:CMDLET:UTILITY: Sort-Object<\/p>\n

PSMDTAG:FAQ: How do I do a multikey sort?<\/p>\n

PSMDTAG:FAQ: How do I control the direction of sort?<\/p>\n

PSMDTAG:FAQ: How do I sort on an expression?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In this blog I will try to explain different features of sort-object(Sort) cmdlet. For the purpose of this blog, I assume the following objects exist:   MSH C:\\temp\\monad> $a,$b,$c,$d                                     Score Name                                   —– —-                                     100 John                                      90 Henry                                      90 Tom                                      80 David     From the definition Sort looks […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":600,"featured_media":13641,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[17,10],"class_list":["post-10751","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-powershell","tag-cmdletutility","tag-faq"],"acf":[],"blog_post_summary":"

In this blog I will try to explain different features of sort-object(Sort) cmdlet. For the purpose of this blog, I assume the following objects exist:   MSH C:\\temp\\monad> $a,$b,$c,$d                                     Score Name                                   —– —-                                     100 John                                      90 Henry                                      90 Tom                                      80 David     From the definition Sort looks […]<\/p>\n","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/devblogs.microsoft.com\/powershell\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10751","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/devblogs.microsoft.com\/powershell\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/devblogs.microsoft.com\/powershell\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/devblogs.microsoft.com\/powershell\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/600"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/devblogs.microsoft.com\/powershell\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10751"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/devblogs.microsoft.com\/powershell\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10751\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/devblogs.microsoft.com\/powershell\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/13641"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/devblogs.microsoft.com\/powershell\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10751"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/devblogs.microsoft.com\/powershell\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10751"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/devblogs.microsoft.com\/powershell\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10751"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}