We can organize displayed data to make it easier to scan by using the Sort-Object cmdlet. Sort-Object takes the name of one or more properties to sort on, and returns data sorted by the values of those properties.
Consider the problem of listing Win32_SystemDriver instances. If we want to sort by State and then by Name, we can do it by typing:
Get-WmiObject -Class Win32_SystemDriver | Sort-Object -Property State,Name | Format-Table -Property Name,State,Started,DisplayName -AutoSize -Wrap
Although this is a lengthy display, you can see items with the same state grouped together:
Name State Started DisplayName ---- ----- ------- ----------- ACPI Running True Microsoft ACPI Driver AFD Running True AFD AmdK7 Running True AMD K7 Processor Driver AsyncMac Running True RAS Asynchronous Media Driver ... Abiosdsk Stopped False Abiosdsk ACPIEC Stopped False ACPIEC aec Stopped False Microsoft Kernel Acoustic Echo Canceller ...
You can also sort the objects in reverse order by specifying the Descending parameter. This reverses the sort order so that names are sorted in reverse alphabetical order and numbers are sorted by descending size.
PS> Get-WmiObject -Class Win32_SystemDriver | Sort-Object -Property State,Name -Descending | Format-Table -Property Name,State,Started,DisplayName -AutoSize -Wrap
Name State Started DisplayName
---- ----- ------- -----------
WS2IFSL Stopped False Windows Socket 2.0 Non-IFS Service Provider Supp
ort Environment
wceusbsh Stopped False Windows CE USB Serial Host Driver...
...
wdmaud Running True Microsoft WINMM WDM Audio Compatibility Driver
Wanarp Running True Remote Access IP ARP Driver
...