Sort an PowerShell array according to a part of content in each element

Question

I am working with a powershell script where I have an array containing following data. Each row below is an element in the array.

Each element has two parts seperated by "/" a number (can be 1-12 digits) and a date time.

I need to sort the array according to the date and time given in each element.

201410212339/21-Oct-2014 23:50 -
2251/27-Sep-2014 23:02 -
0436/22-Oct-2014 04:47 -
091342/09-Oct-2014 13:53 -
2220743/22-Oct-2014 07:53 -
20140/22-Sep-2014 07:41 -
2190446/19-Oct-2014 04:56 -
2014258/21-Aug-2014 23:21 -
22110/22-Oct-2014 14:21 -
1410221721/22-Jun-2014 17:33 -
130/23-Jul-2014 11:42 -
10231426/23-Feb-2014 14:38 -
231731/23-Jan-2014 17:43 -
0232039/23-Mar-2014 20:51 -

Can anyone help me with this? I want to sort the array to access the latest or the second latest entry and use the number associated with it. I can try to split each element into number and date-time and sort them but I am looking for a much simpler way.

Thanks in advance.

Some of those numbers have a leading 0. Do you want them sorted as strings, to include the 0, or as numbers? — TheMadTechnician
– TheMadTechnician, Commented Jun 11, 2015 at 2:01
@TheMadTechnician: I do want to sort the numbers, they are to be treated as strings but the sorting of the elements should be done using the date time. — Sushwanth
– Sushwanth, Commented Jun 11, 2015 at 17:23

TessellatingHeckler · Accepted Answer · 2015-06-11 04:11:02Z

2

You can pass a code block to sort to make a custom sort property, without rebuilding the array. (Pinching the datetime parse from Jan Chrbolka):

$getDate = { [datetime]::Parse($_.split("/")[1].replace(' -','')) }
$data | sort $getDate

Or sort -Descending to reverse it.

But you aren't going to be able to use the date and number without splitting the line, the search for a "much simpler way" seems a bit fruitless.

answered Jun 11, 2015 at 4:11

TessellatingHeckler

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Jan Chrbolka · Accepted Answer · 2015-06-11 23:59:55Z

1

If you want to sort by date and time, this is one way of doing it.

This is your data as an array

$data = @("201410212339/21-Oct-2014 23:50 -",
"2251/27-Sep-2014 23:02 -",
"0436/22-Oct-2014 04:47 -",
"091342/09-Oct-2014 13:53 -",
"2220743/22-Oct-2014 07:53 -",
"20140/22-Sep-2014 07:41 -",
"2190446/19-Oct-2014 04:56 -",
"2014258/21-Aug-2014 23:21 -",
"22110/22-Oct-2014 14:21 -",
"1410221721/22-Jun-2014 17:33 -",
"130/23-Jul-2014 11:42 -",
"10231426/23-Feb-2014 14:38 -",
"231731/23-Jan-2014 17:43 -",
"0232039/23-Mar-2014 20:51 -")

Strip extra characters from the end of each line

$data.replace(" -","")

Pre-pend each line by [datetime] representation of date in ticks

$data.replace(" -","") | % { [string]([datetime]::Parse($_.split("/")[1]).ticks) + "@" + $_}

Sort

$data.replace(" -","") | % { [string]([datetime]::Parse($_.split("/")[1]).ticks) + "@" + $_} | sort-object

Remove pre-pended date string and restore the garbage on the end if you want.

$data.replace(" -","") | % { [string]([datetime]::Parse($_.split("/")[1]).ticks) + "@" + $_} | sort-object | %{$_.split("@")[1] + " -"}

Here is the result:

231731/23-Jan-2014 17:43 -
10231426/23-Feb-2014 14:38 -
0232039/23-Mar-2014 20:51 -
1410221721/22-Jun-2014 17:33 -
130/23-Jul-2014 11:42 -
2014258/21-Aug-2014 23:21 -
20140/22-Sep-2014 07:41 -
2251/27-Sep-2014 23:02 -
091342/09-Oct-2014 13:53 -
2190446/19-Oct-2014 04:56 -
201410212339/21-Oct-2014 23:50 -
0436/22-Oct-2014 04:47 -
2220743/22-Oct-2014 07:53 -
22110/22-Oct-2014 14:21 -

EDIT:

My initial attempt at sorting by [datetime] did not work properly

[string]([datetime]::Parse($_.split("/")[1]))

This not suitable for sorting, as it does not sort by year or time. Representing [datetime] in ticks fixes the problem.

[string]([datetime]::Parse($_.split("/")[1]).ticks)

I have edited the code above to reflect this.

edited Jun 11, 2015 at 23:59

answered Jun 11, 2015 at 2:52

Jan Chrbolka

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2 Comments

Sushwanth Over a year ago

I have no Idea how it worked but $data | sort-object did work for me. I could learn something useful from your answer though. There was an error I found while using your suggestion. if there were different years, then the year was not considered while sorting. Only date and month were considered.

Jan Chrbolka Over a year ago

@user3543477 Thanks for picking up that error. The problem is that it was sorting on plain datetime converted to string. if you express datetime in ticks, problem goes away. Answer Edited. Also, $data | sort-object should not work, as it sorts by the whole string. For me anyway...

TheMadTechnician · Accepted Answer · 2015-06-11 02:17:02Z

0

You can create properties from each string, sort by the one, and then just re-expand the original... Something like:

@"
201410212339/21-Oct-2014 23:50 -
2251/27-Sep-2014 23:02 -
0436/22-Oct-2014 04:47 -
091342/09-Oct-2014 13:53 -
2220743/22-Oct-2014 07:53 -
20140/22-Sep-2014 07:41 -
2190446/19-Oct-2014 04:56 -
2014258/21-Aug-2014 23:21 -
22110/22-Oct-2014 14:21 -
1410221721/22-Jun-2014 17:33 -
130/23-Jul-2014 11:42 -
10231426/23-Feb-2014 14:38 -
231731/23-Jan-2014 17:43 -
0232039/23-Mar-2014 20:51 -
"@ -split "`r`n"|Select @{l='SortMe';e={[int64]$_.split('/')[0]}},@{l='Value';e={$_}}|sort SortMe|Select -Expand Value

That will output:

130/23-Jul-2014 11:42 -
0436/22-Oct-2014 04:47 -
2251/27-Sep-2014 23:02 -
20140/22-Sep-2014 07:41 -
22110/22-Oct-2014 14:21 -
091342/09-Oct-2014 13:53 -
231731/23-Jan-2014 17:43 -
0232039/23-Mar-2014 20:51 -
2014258/21-Aug-2014 23:21 -
2190446/19-Oct-2014 04:56 -
2220743/22-Oct-2014 07:53 -
10231426/23-Feb-2014 14:38 -
1410221721/22-Jun-2014 17:33 -
201410212339/21-Oct-2014 23:50 -

If you don't want them sorted numerically and want the numbers sorted as string remove the [int64] from it.

answered Jun 11, 2015 at 2:17

TheMadTechnician

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1 Comment

Sushwanth Over a year ago

Thankyou for the response. I was actually trying to sort according to the date time part in each entry not using the number in each entry.

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