PowerShell, use Sort-Object to return an Array

Question

I've looked at various sites that suggest that Sort-Object will return an array. This is not what I am seeing as when I do the below, the final output caused by the Sort-Object is just a single string. How can I sort the array into another array instead of to a string?

$myprogs = Get-ChildItem D:\MyPath\MyPrograms
$myprognames = foreach ($i in $myprogs) { $i.FullName -replace "D:\\MyPath\\MyPrograms\\", "" }
# At this point, $myprognames is a normal array
$myprognames = $myprognames | Sort-Object -Unique
$myprognames
# At this point, $myprognames is a single string with all elements stuck together, and if I select an element, like $myprognames[17], I will just get a single character as it's a string.

When I do the $i.FullName, that's just a string, so I'm creating an array of strings, right? Hence, I just want to sort the strings out into an ordered set of strings and save them as an array. The strings themselves are the set of objects that I want to sort alphabetically. i.e. I'm basically throwing away all of the properties that the Get-ChildItem returns and just want the .FullName strings. I don't see what you mean about not saving my changes, sorry? — YorSubs
– YorSubs, Commented Nov 2, 2022 at 7:32

Olaf · Accepted Answer · 2022-11-02 07:43:12Z

1

If I assume right you want something similar to this:

$myprogs = 
    Get-ChildItem 'D:\MyPath\MyPrograms' |
        Select-Object -Property *,
            @{Name = 'ShortenedPath'; Expression = {$_.FullName -replace ([regex]::escape('D:\MyPath\MyPrograms'))}}
$MyProgNames = $myprogs | 
    Sort-Object -Property ShortenedPath -Unique

Of course you should list all properties you're actually after instead of using -Property *

According to your comment you're actually looking for the names of the folders sorted, right? If that's the case you're overcomplicating this a lot. ;-)

$myprogs = 
    Get-ChildItem 'D:\MyPath\MyPrograms' |
        Select-Object -Property Name |
           Sort-Object -Property Name -Unique

edited Nov 2, 2022 at 7:43

answered Nov 2, 2022 at 7:12

Olaf

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3 Comments

YorSubs Over a year ago

Thanks, I had a specific reason for doing this, but didn't want to complicate the question. I need only the names in this way, because I am collecting target paths of shortcuts from a different system that have different relative paths to my local folders and that include the target executable in the names of that side, so I first want to strip off the exectuable, then strip off the common prefix part of the path (D:\MyPath\MyPrograms) and then sort those simple strings. You are right that the Name property correctly fits the question as I asked it. 👍

YorSubs Over a year ago

Do you know why my array of strings in the OP is getting stuck together into a single string instead of sorting into another array of strings when I use Sort-Object on it (my preferences is that the the array is opened up, sorted and then a new sorted array is created)?

Olaf Over a year ago

Actually no. And I cannot reproduce this behaviour. I get the output I'd expect from the code.

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