Powershell string sorting with expression based "columns"

Question

Let's say I have a collection of strings like this, in no particular order:

"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)"

I want to sort them like this:

"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)"

In other words, I want to sort in this order: (Bad) to the bottom (Text/Word, Audio, Picture) on top of the (Bad)s and then sort on (2, 1, [blank]).

Note that I want Text and Word clumped together and then sorted on the number in parenthesis, and I don't care about anything that doesn't match those, so I don't care about (Comment).

Currently I'm getting this:

"Filename (Word) (1)"
"Filename (Text) (2)"
"Filename (Text) (Comment)"
"Filename (Audio) (Comment) (1)"
"Filename (Audio)"
"Filename (Picture) (1)"
"Filename (Picture)"
"Filename (Misc) (1)"
"Filename (Misc)"
"Filename (Word) (1) (Bad)"

So I'm very close to getting what I want.

Here's what I'm doing:

$badExpression = { if ($_ -match '\((Bad)\)') { $matches[1] } }
$documentExpression = { if ($_ -match '\((Text|Word)\)') { $matches[1] } }
$soundExpression = { if ($_ -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}

I'm definitely misunderstanding how exactly my expressions are being applied to the sort. I have a hunch that maybe I have to do a sequence of Sort-Objects, but I can't really figure out what.

Just to draw the focus: The issue I have is that (Word) and (Text) are supposed to be sorted as if they were the same.

Edit: Okay I think I got the behavior I want now with this, a subtle change, see the -replace I added.

$badExpression = { if ($_ -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}

So for internet points: What is my script doing (besides working), I'd like to understand it a little bit better. :) I understand what's happening loosely, but I'd like a better grasp of it.

score 1 · Answer 1 · answered May 15 '17 at 04:41

Its not straight forward. But I would prefer to first sort it to Natural first.

Get-Content C:\folder\String.txt | Sort-Object $ToNatural

Then at least you will directly get O/p like this (sorted with Audio,Misc,Pics,Texts):

"Filename (Audio) (Comment) (1)"
"Filename (Audio)"
"Filename (Misc) (1)"
"Filename (Misc)"
"Filename (Picture) (1)"
"Filename (Picture)"
"Filename (Text) (2)"
"Filename (Text) (Comment)"
"Filename (Word) (1) (Bad)"
"Filename (Word) (1)"

After that you can use some regex to match according to your need. Let me know if this approach helps you.

Just stumbled over this answer, you missed to define the variable [$ToNatural](https://stackoverflow.com/a/5429048/6811411) like this `$ToNatural = { [regex]::Replace($_, '\d+', { $args[0].Value.PadLeft(20,"0") }) }` I have it defined in my profile too :-) — , May 29 '18 at 20:50

Powershell string sorting with expression based "columns"

1 Answers1