Six years late, and I got nerd-sniped by the Related sidebar, instead of doing real work...
("Filename (Text) (Comment)", "Filename (Word) (1)",
"Filename (Word) (1) (Bad)", "Filename (Text) (2)",
"Filename (Picture)", "AAAAname (Misc)",
"Filename (Misc) (1)", "Filename (Picture) (1)",
"Filename (Audio)", "Filename (Audio) (Comment) (1)") `
| Sort-Object -Property `
@{Descending=$true; Expression={ switch -Regex ($_) { # reverse-sort by a numerical code
'\(bad\)' { -2; break } # push (bad) to the bottom (lowest code val)
'\((text|word)\)' { 80; break } # (text) or (word) come first (highest code val)
'\(audio\)' { 60; break }
'\(picture\)' { 40; break }
'\(misc\)' { 20; break }
default { -1 } # unknowns are penultimate (second-lowest code val)
}}},
@{Descending=$true; Expression={ switch -Regex ($_) { #...then reverse-sort by the first (num)
'\(([0-9]+)\)' { [Int32]($Matches[1]) } # find any run of digits and convert to integer
default { -1 } # assume no negative (nums)
}}}
Filename (Text) (2)
Filename (Word) (1)
Filename (Text) (Comment)
Filename (Audio) (Comment) (1)
Filename (Audio)
Filename (Picture) (1)
Filename (Picture)
Filename (Misc) (1)
Filename (Misc)
Filename (Word) (1) (Bad)
The above assumes you are interested in the existence of (Bad) over anything else, then the first instance of one of your named (Class) values, then the first (number). Multiple classes/multiple numbers are non-deterministic.
You also didn't indicate if you wanted to sort on the actual Filename text itself so, in the above, it is also non-deterministic. If you did want to sort the Filename text as well, try...
("Filename (Text) (Comment)", "Filename (Word) (1)",
"Filename (Word) (1) (Bad)", "Filename (Text) (2)",
"Filename (Picture)", "AAAAname (Misc)",
"Filename (Misc) (1)", "Filename (Picture) (1)",
"Filename (Audio)", "Filename (Audio) (Comment) (1)") `
| Sort-Object -Property `
@{Expression={
($_ -split '\(')[0] # first, sort by everything up to the first (
}},
@{Descending=$true; Expression={ switch -Regex ($_) { #...then reverse-sort by a numerical code
'\(bad\)' { -2; break } # push (bad) to the bottom (lowest code val)
'\((text|word)\)' { 80; break } # (text) or (word) come first (highest code val)
'\(audio\)' { 60; break }
'\(picture\)' { 40; break }
'\(misc\)' { 20; break }
default { -1 } # unknowns are penultimate (second-lowest code val)
}}},
@{Descending=$true; Expression={ switch -Regex ($_) { #...finally reverse-sort by the first (num)
'\(([0-9]+)\)' { [Int32]($Matches[1]) } # find any run of digits and convert to integer
default { -1 } # assume no negative (nums)
}}}
AAAAname (Misc)
Filename (Text) (2)
Filename (Word) (1)
Filename (Text) (Comment)
Filename (Audio) (Comment) (1)
Filename (Audio)
Filename (Picture) (1)
Filename (Picture)
Filename (Misc) (1)
Filename (Word) (1) (Bad)
So for internet points: What is my script doing...
$badExpression = { if ($_ -match '\((Bad)\)') { $matches[1] } }
$documentExpression = { if ($_ -match '\((Text|Word)\)') { $matches[1] -replace ".*",'Document'} }
$soundExpression = { if ($_ -match '\((Audio)\)') { $matches[1] } }
$imageExpression = { if ($_ -match '\((Picture)\)') { $matches[1] } }
$numberExpression = { if ($_ -match '\((2|1)\)') { $matches[1] } }
"Filename (Text) (Comment)", "Filename (Word) (1)", "Filename (Word) (1) (Bad)", `
"Filename (Text) (2)", "Filename (Picture)", "Filename (Misc)", "Filename (Misc) (1)", `
"Filename (Picture) (1)", "Filename (Audio)", "Filename (Audio) (Comment) (1)" | Sort-Object `
@{Expression = $badExpression; Descending = $false}, `
@{Expression = $documentExpression; Descending = $true}, `
@{Expression = $soundExpression; Descending = $true}, `
@{Expression = $imageExpression; Descending = $true}, `
@{Expression = $numberExpression; Descending = $true}
Your $expression variables are each storing a script block which would return a specific word, if that word is found in the current pipeline item; e.g. the script in $badExpression returns Bad if the pipeline item ($_) contains '(Bad)', and returns nothing if it does not. Nothing comes before Bad in any .
Your Sort-Object sorts the list on each of those expressions, in turn. For each of your strings, this extracts the following:
$_ : Filename (Text) (Comment)
if ($_ -match '\((Bad)\)') { $matches[1] } :
if ($_ -match '\((Text|Word)\)') { $matches[1] -replace ".*",'Document'} : DocumentDocument
if ($_ -match '\((Audio)\)') { $matches[1] } :
if ($_ -match '\((Picture)\)') { $matches[1] } :
if ($_ -match '\((2|1)\)') { $matches[1] } :
$_ : Filename (Word) (1)
if ($_ -match '\((Bad)\)') { $matches[1] } :
if ($_ -match '\((Text|Word)\)') { $matches[1] -replace ".*",'Document'} : DocumentDocument
if ($_ -match '\((Audio)\)') { $matches[1] } :
if ($_ -match '\((Picture)\)') { $matches[1] } :
if ($_ -match '\((2|1)\)') { $matches[1] } : 1
$_ : Filename (Word) (1) (Bad)
if ($_ -match '\((Bad)\)') { $matches[1] } : Bad
if ($_ -match '\((Text|Word)\)') { $matches[1] -replace ".*",'Document'} : DocumentDocument
if ($_ -match '\((Audio)\)') { $matches[1] } :
if ($_ -match '\((Picture)\)') { $matches[1] } :
if ($_ -match '\((2|1)\)') { $matches[1] } : 1
$_ : Filename (Text) (2)
if ($_ -match '\((Bad)\)') { $matches[1] } :
if ($_ -match '\((Text|Word)\)') { $matches[1] -replace ".*",'Document'} : DocumentDocument
if ($_ -match '\((Audio)\)') { $matches[1] } :
if ($_ -match '\((Picture)\)') { $matches[1] } :
if ($_ -match '\((2|1)\)') { $matches[1] } : 2
$_ : Filename (Picture)
if ($_ -match '\((Bad)\)') { $matches[1] } :
if ($_ -match '\((Text|Word)\)') { $matches[1] -replace ".*",'Document'} :
if ($_ -match '\((Audio)\)') { $matches[1] } :
if ($_ -match '\((Picture)\)') { $matches[1] } : Picture
if ($_ -match '\((2|1)\)') { $matches[1] } :
$_ : Filename (Misc)
if ($_ -match '\((Bad)\)') { $matches[1] } :
if ($_ -match '\((Text|Word)\)') { $matches[1] -replace ".*",'Document'} :
if ($_ -match '\((Audio)\)') { $matches[1] } :
if ($_ -match '\((Picture)\)') { $matches[1] } :
if ($_ -match '\((2|1)\)') { $matches[1] } :
$_ : Filename (Misc) (1)
if ($_ -match '\((Bad)\)') { $matches[1] } :
if ($_ -match '\((Text|Word)\)') { $matches[1] -replace ".*",'Document'} :
if ($_ -match '\((Audio)\)') { $matches[1] } :
if ($_ -match '\((Picture)\)') { $matches[1] } :
if ($_ -match '\((2|1)\)') { $matches[1] } : 1
$_ : Filename (Picture) (1)
if ($_ -match '\((Bad)\)') { $matches[1] } :
if ($_ -match '\((Text|Word)\)') { $matches[1] -replace ".*",'Document'} :
if ($_ -match '\((Audio)\)') { $matches[1] } :
if ($_ -match '\((Picture)\)') { $matches[1] } : Picture
if ($_ -match '\((2|1)\)') { $matches[1] } : 1
$_ : Filename (Audio)
if ($_ -match '\((Bad)\)') { $matches[1] } :
if ($_ -match '\((Text|Word)\)') { $matches[1] -replace ".*",'Document'} :
if ($_ -match '\((Audio)\)') { $matches[1] } : Audio
if ($_ -match '\((Picture)\)') { $matches[1] } :
if ($_ -match '\((2|1)\)') { $matches[1] } :
$_ : Filename (Audio) (Comment) (1)
if ($_ -match '\((Bad)\)') { $matches[1] } :
if ($_ -match '\((Text|Word)\)') { $matches[1] -replace ".*",'Document'} :
if ($_ -match '\((Audio)\)') { $matches[1] } : Audio
if ($_ -match '\((Picture)\)') { $matches[1] } :
if ($_ -match '\((2|1)\)') { $matches[1] } : 1
The $expression scripts are somewhat circuitous, in that it doesn't strictly matter what they return as long as it is binary (exists vs not-exists). You could easily replace most of them with just the { $_ -match '\(...\) }' part, if you wanted to, and sort on the resulting booleans.
The reason your first approach sorts (Text) before (Word) is because that is what you are asking it to sort, when it gets to that expression. $documentExpression returns the term that was matched $matches[1], and \((Text|Word)\) means that term could be Text or Word. As such your sort is done on across three possible terms (Word, Text or nothing) instead of across two (exists, not-exists).
Your second version of $documentExpression takes whatever term was in $Matches[1], discards it and replaces it with DocumentDocument, which resolves it back to the binary exists/not-exists condition.
(That it replaces it with DocumentDocument instead of just Document is peculiar. My best guess is that there is a race condition between the -match and the -replace – both operators would usually populate $Matches, and it is probably choking on reading the value and writing at the same time.)
$numberExpression is the only expression that is legitimately expected to have more than one value to sort over, because you have asked for 1 or 2, so sorting on $Matches[1] there makes some sense.
