Powershell sorting multiple columns and directions

Question

I've managed to get Powershell to sort multiple columns and in different directions;

$prop1 = @{Expression='Priority'; Descending=$true }

$prop2 = @{Expression='Date'; Ascending=$true }

(Import-Csv $BackUpDataPath"WaitList.csv") |
    Sort-Object $prop1, $prop2 |
    Export-Csv $BackUpDataPath"WaitList.csv" -NoType

My problem is that the Priority value is stored as string data and sorts as text so the output to the file is;

Date              Priority

6/28/2016 16:46  2

6/28/2016 16:59  2

6/29/2016 15:27  11

6/28/2016 16:42  1

6/28/2016 16:49  1

I've tried [int]$prop1 and similar ways to change it to an integer but it doesn't seem to work. The Line 6/29/2016 15:27 11 should be first but it isn't. Bare in mind as long as the #'s are less than 10 it sorts fine.

DAXaholic · Accepted Answer · 2016-06-30 16:56:25Z

2

Try it with

$prop1 = @{Expression={[int]$_.Priority}; Descending=$true }

answered Jun 30, 2016 at 16:56

DAXaholic

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5 Comments

Allen W. Over a year ago

That worked after I put the entire section in ()'s ($prop1 = @{Expression={[int]$_.Priority}; Descending=$true }) Funny, I tried similar configs. Just had't gotten to this one. Thanks.

DAXaholic Over a year ago

Glad to hear, but it should not be necessary to put parentheses around it.

Allen W. Over a year ago

I had you use the ()'s. With out them I got an error saying "A positional parameter cannot be found that accepts argument '=' ".

Allen W. Over a year ago

I just realized why it didn't wort. I implemented your changes on the 3rd line instead of the initial declaration of $prop1. Thanks again.

DAXaholic Over a year ago

Ah ok so you tried to directly pass it to the Sort-Object cmdlet - yeah in this case you have to wrap it in parentheses so it is evaluated as a sub expression.

kcoder24 · Accepted Answer · 2016-06-30 17:29:39Z

0

Looking how to convert from string->int i found [int] is not reliably, so I went for another solution. Please try something like this:

"2;2;11;1" -split ";" | %{[int]$Numeric=[convert]::ToInt32($_.toString(), 10) ; add-member -NotePropertyName "Numeric" -NotePropertyValue $Numeric -InputObject $_ ; echo $_} | Sort-Object Numeric

I create an String array, and then split it, for every object I generate the Int32 version of the value and then add a new member to the input object, I print this new object and finally just sort the array by the new property.

I tried to include the script inside the hashtable for the "property" parameter for sort-object but that didn't work :(.

Hope this can solve your problem.

Regards.

answered Jun 30, 2016 at 17:29

kcoder24

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1 Comment

Allen W. Over a year ago

Thanks for your reply. DAXaholics solution worked perfectly for me.

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