Sort-Object
Sorts objects by property values.
Syntax
Sort-Object
[[-Property] <Object[]>]
[-Descending]
[-Unique]
[-InputObject <psobject>]
[-Culture <string>]
[-CaseSensitive]
[<CommonParameters>]Description
The Sort-Object cmdlet sorts objects in ascending or descending order based on object property
values. If sort properties aren't included in a command, PowerShell uses default sort properties of
the first input object. If the input object's type has no default sort properties, PowerShell
attempts to compare the objects themselves. For more information, see the Notes section.
You can sort objects by a single property or multiple properties. Multiple properties use hash tables to sort in ascending order, descending order, or a combination of sort orders. Properties are sorted as case-sensitive or case-insensitive. Use the Unique parameter to remove duplicates from the output.
Examples
Example 1: Sort the current directory by name
This example sorts the files and subdirectories in a directory.
Get-ChildItem -Path C:\Test | Sort-Object
Directory: C:\Test
Mode LastWriteTime Length Name
---- ------------- ------ ----
-a---- 2/13/2019 08:55 26 anotherfile.txt
-a---- 2/13/2019 13:26 20 Bfile.txt
-a---- 2/12/2019 15:40 118014 Command.txt
-a---- 2/1/2019 08:43 183 CreateTestFile.ps1
d----- 2/25/2019 18:25 Files
d----- 2/25/2019 18:24 Logs
-ar--- 2/12/2019 14:31 27 ReadOnlyFile.txt
-a---- 2/12/2019 16:24 23 Zsystemlog.logThe Get-ChildItem cmdlet gets the files and subdirectories from the directory specified by the
Path parameter, C:\Test. The objects are sent down the pipeline to the Sort-Object cmdlet.
Sort-Object doesn't specify a property so the output is sorted by the default sort property,
Name.
Example 2: Sort the current directory by file length
This command displays the files in the current directory by length in ascending order.
Get-ChildItem -Path C:\Test -File | Sort-Object -Property Length
Directory: C:\Test
Mode LastWriteTime Length Name
---- ------------- ------ ----
-a---- 2/13/2019 13:26 20 Bfile.txt
-a---- 2/12/2019 16:24 23 Zsystemlog.log
-a---- 2/13/2019 08:55 26 anotherfile.txt
-ar--- 2/12/2019 14:31 27 ReadOnlyFile.txt
-a---- 2/1/2019 08:43 183 CreateTestFile.ps1
-a---- 2/12/2019 15:40 118014 Command.txtThe Get-ChildItem cmdlet gets the files from the directory specified by the Path parameter.
The File parameter specifies that Get-ChildItem only gets file objects. The objects are sent
down the pipeline to the Sort-Object cmdlet. Sort-Object uses the Length parameter to sort
the files by length in ascending order.
Example 3: Sort processes by memory usage
This example displays processes with the highest memory usage based on their working set (WS) size.
Get-Process | Sort-Object -Property WS | Select-Object -Last 5
NPM(K) PM(M) WS(M) CPU(s) Id SI ProcessName
------ ----- ----- ------ -- -- -----------
136 193.92 217.11 889.16 87492 8 OUTLOOK
112 347.73 297.02 95.19 106908 8 Teams
206 266.54 323.71 37.17 60620 8 MicrosoftEdgeCP
35 552.19 549.94 131.66 6552 8 Code
0 1.43 595.12 0.00 2780 0 Memory CompressionThe Get-Process cmdlet gets the list of processes running on the computer. The process objects are
sent down the pipeline to the Sort-Object cmdlet. Sort-Object uses the Property parameter to
sort the objects by WS. The objects are sent down the pipeline to the Select-Object cmdlet.
Select-Object uses the Last parameter to specify the last five objects, which are the objects
with the highest WS usage.
Example 4: Sort HistoryInfo objects by Id
This command sorts the PowerShell session's HistoryInfo objects using the Id property. Each PowerShell session has its own command history.
Get-History | Sort-Object -Property Id -Descending
Id CommandLine
-- -----------
10 Get-Command Sort-Object -Syntax
9 $PSVersionTable
8 Get-Command Sort-Object -Syntax
7 Get-Command Sort-Object -ShowCommandInfo
6 Get-ChildItem -Path C:\Test | Sort-Object -Property Length
5 Get-Help Clear-History -online
4 Get-Help Clear-History -full
3 Get-ChildItem | Get-Member
2 Get-Command Sort-Object -Syntax
1 Set-Location C:\Test\The Get-History cmdlet gets the history objects from the current PowerShell session. The objects
are sent down the pipeline to the Sort-Object cmdlet. Sort-Object uses the Property
parameter to sort the objects by Id. The Descending parameter sorts the command history from
newest to oldest.
Example 5: Use a hash table to sort properties in ascending and descending order
This example uses two properties to sort the objects, Status and DisplayName. Status is sorted in descending order and DisplayName is sorted in ascending order.
A hash table is used to specify the Property parameter's value. The hash table uses an expression to specify the property names and sort orders. For more information about hash tables, see about_Hash_Tables.
The Status property used in the hash table is an enumerated property. For more information, see ServiceControllerStatus.
Get-Service |
Sort-Object -Property @{Expression = "Status"; Descending = $true},
@{Expression = "DisplayName"; Descending = $false}
Status Name DisplayName
------ ---- -----------
Running Appinfo Application Information
Running BthAvctpSvc AVCTP service
Running BrokerInfrastru... Background Tasks Infrastructure Ser...
Running BDESVC BitLocker Drive Encryption Service
Running CoreMessagingRe... CoreMessaging
Running VaultSvc Credential Manager
Running DsSvc Data Sharing Service
Running Dhcp DHCP Client
...
Stopped ALG Application Layer Gateway Service
Stopped AppMgmt Application Management
Stopped BITS Background Intelligent Transfer Ser...
Stopped wbengine Block Level Backup Engine Service
Stopped BluetoothUserSe... Bluetooth User Support Service_14fb...
Stopped COMSysApp COM+ System Application
Stopped smstsmgr ConfigMgr Task Sequence Agent
Stopped DeviceInstall Device Install Service
Stopped MSDTC Distributed Transaction CoordinatorThe Get-Service cmdlet gets the list of services on the computer. The service objects are sent
down the pipeline to the Sort-Object cmdlet. Sort-Object uses the Property parameter with a
hash table to specify the property names and sort orders. The Property parameter is sorted by
two properties, Status in descending order and DisplayName in ascending order.
Status is an enumerated property. Stopped has a value of 1 and Running has a value
of 4. The Descending parameter is set to $True so that Running processes are displayed
before Stopped processes. DisplayName sets the Descending parameter to $False to sort
the display names in alphabetical order.
Example 6: Sort text files by time span
This command sorts text files in descending order by the time span between CreationTime and LastWriteTime.
Get-ChildItem -Path C:\Test\*.txt |
Sort-Object -Property {$_.CreationTime - $_.LastWriteTime} |
Format-Table CreationTime, LastWriteTime, FullName
CreationTime LastWriteTime FullName
------------ ------------- --------
11/21/2018 12:39:01 2/26/2019 08:59:36 C:\Test\test2.txt
12/4/2018 08:29:41 2/26/2019 08:57:05 C:\Test\powershell_list.txt
2/20/2019 08:15:59 2/26/2019 12:09:43 C:\Test\CreateTestFile.txt
2/20/2019 08:15:59 2/26/2019 12:07:41 C:\Test\Command.txt
2/20/2019 08:15:59 2/26/2019 08:57:52 C:\Test\ReadOnlyFile.txt
11/29/2018 15:16:50 12/4/2018 16:16:24 C:\Test\LogData.txt
2/25/2019 18:25:11 2/26/2019 12:08:47 C:\Test\Zsystemlog.txt
2/25/2019 18:25:11 2/26/2019 08:55:33 C:\Test\Bfile.txt
2/26/2019 08:46:59 2/26/2019 12:12:19 C:\Test\LogFile3.txtThe Get-ChildItem cmdlet uses the Path parameter to specify the directory C:\Test and all
of the *.txt files. The objects are sent down the pipeline to the Sort-Object cmdlet.
Sort-Object uses the Property parameter with a scriptblock to determine each files time span
between CreationTime and LastWriteTime.
Example 7: Sort names in a text file
This example shows how to sort a list from a text file. The original file is displayed as an
unsorted list. Sort-Object sorts the contents and then sorts the contents with the Unique
parameter that removes duplicates.
# All items unsorted
Get-Content -Path C:\Test\ServerNames.txt
localhost
server01
server25
LOCALHOST
Server19
server3
localhost
# All items sorted
Get-Content -Path C:\Test\ServerNames.txt | Sort-Object
localhost
LOCALHOST
localhost
server01
Server19
server25
server3
# Unique filtered items sorted
Get-Content -Path C:\Test\ServerNames.txt | Sort-Object -Unique
localhost
server01
Server19
server25
server3The Get-Content cmdlet uses the Path parameter to specify the directory and filename. The
file ServerNames.txt contains an unsorted list of computer names.
The Get-Content cmdlet uses the Path parameter to specify the directory and filename. The
file ServerNames.txt contains an unsorted list of computer names. The objects are sent down the
pipeline to the Sort-Object cmdlet. Sort-Object sorts the list in the default order, ascending.
The Get-Content cmdlet uses the Path parameter to specify the directory and filename. The
file ServerNames.txt contains an unsorted list of computer names. The objects are sent down the
pipeline to the Sort-Object cmdlet. Sort-Object uses the Unique parameter to remove
duplicate computer names. The list is sorted in the default order, ascending.
Example 8: Sort a string as an integer
This example shows how to sort a text file that contains string objects as integers. You can send
each command down the pipeline to Get-Member and verify that the objects are strings instead of
integers. For these examples, the ProductId.txt file contains an unsorted list of product numbers.
In the first example, Get-Content gets the contents of the file and pipes lines to the
Sort-Object cmdlet. Sort-Object sorts the string objects in ascending order.
# String sorted
Get-Content -Path C:\Test\ProductId.txt | Sort-Object
0
1
12345
1500
2
2800
3500
4100
500
6200
77
88
99999
# Integer sorted
Get-Content -Path C:\Test\ProductId.txt | Sort-Object {[int]$_}
0
1
2
77
88
500
1500
2800
3500
4100
6200
12345
99999In the second example, Get-Content gets the contents of the file and pipes lines to the
Sort-Object cmdlet. Sort-Object uses a script block to convert the strings to integers. In the
sample code, [int] converts the string to an integer and $_ represents each string as it comes
down the pipeline. The integer objects are sent down the pipeline to the Sort-Object cmdlet.
Sort-Object sorts the integer objects in numeric order.
Example 9: Sort by multiple properties
If you want to sort by multiple properties, separate the properties by commas.
Get-ChildItem -Path C:\Test | Sort-Object Length,Name
Directory: C:\Test
Mode LastWriteTime Length Name
---- ------------- ------ ----
-a--- 13/10/2021 22:16 2 File01.txt
-a--- 13/10/2021 22:16 2 File03.txt
-a--- 13/10/2021 22:18 64 File02.txt
-a--- 13/10/2021 22:18 64 File04.txtThe Get-ChildItem cmdlet gets the files from the directory specified by the Path parameter.
The objects are sent down the pipeline to the Sort-Object cmdlet. Sort-Object uses the
Length and Name parameter to sort the files by length in ascending order. Since
File01.txt and File03.txt have the same length, they're further sorted by their property
Name.
Example 10: Sort hashtables by their key values with calculated properties
This example shows how you can sort hashtable objects by the value of their keys. You can specify one or more scriptblocks for the Property parameter. The expressions in these scriptblocks are used to determine the sorting order for the input like the values for named properties.
@(
@{ name = 'a' ; weight = 7 }
@{ name = 'b' ; weight = 1 }
@{ name = 'c' ; weight = 3 }
@{ name = 'd' ; weight = 7 }
) | Sort-Object -Property { $_.weight }, { $_.name } -OutVariable Sorted
$Sorted | ForEach-Object -Process { "{0}: {1}" -f $_.name, $_.weight }The { $_.weight } and { $_.name } expressions sort the input hashtables first by the value of
their weight key and then by the value of their name key. The Sort-Object command uses the
OutVariable parameter to store the result to a variable and display the result in the same call.
The last command iterates over the sorted hashtables to display their name and weight as a string.
Parameters
-CaseSensitive
Indicates that the sort is case-sensitive. By default, sorts aren't case-sensitive.
| Type: | SwitchParameter |
| Position: | Named |
| Default value: | Case-insensitive |
| Required: | False |
| Accept pipeline input: | False |
| Accept wildcard characters: | False |
-Culture
Specifies the cultural configuration to use for sorts. Use Get-Culture to display the system's
culture configuration.
| Type: | String |
| Position: | Named |
| Default value: | None |
| Required: | False |
| Accept pipeline input: | False |
| Accept wildcard characters: | False |
-Descending
Indicates that Sort-Object sorts the objects in descending order. The default is ascending order.
To sort multiple properties with different sort orders, use a hash table. For example, with a hash table you can sort one property in ascending order and another property in descending order.
| Type: | SwitchParameter |
| Position: | Named |
| Default value: | Ascending |
| Required: | False |
| Accept pipeline input: | False |
| Accept wildcard characters: | False |
-InputObject
To sort objects, send them down the pipeline to Sort-Object. If you use the InputObject
parameter to submit a collection of items, Sort-Object receives one object that represents the
collection. Because one object can't be sorted, Sort-Object returns the entire collection
unchanged.
| Type: | PSObject |
| Position: | Named |
| Default value: | None |
| Required: | False |
| Accept pipeline input: | True |
| Accept wildcard characters: | False |
-Property
Specifies the property names that Sort-Object uses to sort the objects. Wildcards are permitted.
Objects are sorted based on the property values. If you don't specify a property, Sort-Object
sorts based on default properties for the object type or the objects themselves.
Use commas to separate multiple properties. Multiple properties can be sorted in ascending order, descending order, or a combination of sort orders. When you specify multiple properties, the objects are sorted by the first property. If multiple objects have the same value for the first property, those objects are sorted by the second property. This process continues until there are no more specified properties or no groups of objects.
The Property parameter's value can be a calculated property. To create a calculated property, use a scriptblock or a hashtable.
Valid keys for a hash table are as follows:
expression-<string>or<script block>ascendingordescending-<boolean>
For more information, see about_Calculated_Properties.
| Type: | Object[] |
| Position: | 0 |
| Default value: | Default properties |
| Required: | False |
| Accept pipeline input: | False |
| Accept wildcard characters: | True |
-Unique
Indicates that Sort-Object eliminates duplicates and returns only the unique members of the
collection. The first instance of a unique value is included in the sorted output.
Unique is case-insensitive. Strings that only differ by character case are considered the same. For example, character and CHARACTER.
| Type: | SwitchParameter |
| Position: | Named |
| Default value: | All |
| Required: | False |
| Accept pipeline input: | False |
| Accept wildcard characters: | False |
Inputs
You can pipe the objects to be sorted to this cmdlet.
Outputs
This cmdlet returns the sorted objects.
Notes
Windows PowerShell includes the following aliases for Sort-Object:
sort
The Sort-Object cmdlet sorts objects based on properties specified in the command or the default
sort properties for the object type. Default sort properties are defined using the PropertySet
named DefaultKeyPropertySet in a types.ps1xml file. For more information, see
about_Types.ps1xml.
If an object doesn't have one of the specified properties, the property value for that object is
interpreted by Sort-Object as Null and placed at the end of the sort order.
When no sort properties are available, PowerShell attempts to compare the objects themselves.
Sort-Object uses the Compare method for each property. If a property doesn't implement
IComparable, the cmdlet converts the property value to a string and uses the Compare method
for System.String. For more information, see
PSObject.CompareTo(Object) Method.
If you sort on an enumerated property such as Status, Sort-Object sorts by the enumeration
values. For Windows services, Stopped has a value of 1 and Running has a value of 4.
Stopped is sorted before Running because of the enumerated values. For more information,
see ServiceControllerStatus.
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