Vista - How do I read a text file and sort text by fixed positions?

I need to read the content of a file and sort the content by fixed width.
Example file: sample_data.txt
23abdc1133cdde
14zzwd0034kkhe
65ppok7780hyyh

Read in the content and sort text by fixed position
(startpos:1,len:2)(startpos:3,len:4)(startpos:6,len:4)

I'm having problems sorting the text after i read the file. I think i need
to use regex and sort the matches object.

This is what i have so far:

Get-Content c:\text_acct_level.txt | ForEach-Object { if ($_ -match
[regex]"^.{2}(?<fld1>(.{9}))(?<fld2>(.{4}))(?<fld3>(.{20})).*"){$matches}}|sort-Object $matches[1],$matches[2],$matches[3]

Its not working but at maybe it will help you understand where I'm getting
lost.

Thanks,
Cornelius

"Cornelius" <Cornelius@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:1544EB07-3A08-47EE-BB53-0DF3E2C12074@microsoft.com...
>I need to read the content of a file and sort the content by fixed width.
> Example file: sample_data.txt
> 23abdc1133cdde
> 14zzwd0034kkhe
> 65ppok7780hyyh
>
> Read in the content and sort text by fixed position
> (startpos:1,len:2)(startpos:3,len:4)(startpos:6,len:4)

I am lost with your question: if you want to sort the file by the first two
characters then the next four characters and finally the last four
characters, won't sorting the whole line by default produce the expected
result?

PS> get-content sample_data.txt | sort

However, if you want to sort on non-sequential patterns of your text the
following should work:-

--- sample_data.txt ---
23abdc1133cdde
14zzwd0034kkhe
65ppok7780hyyh
12abdc1133cdde
--- sample_data.txt ---

PS> # sort on 3rd to 6th chars, then on 1st to 2nd chars:
PS> get-content sample_data.txt | sort {$_[2..5]},{$_[0..1]}
12abdc1133cdde
23abdc1133cdde
65ppok7780hyyh
14zzwd0034kkhe

Hope that helps,
Jacques

Sorry I know the post was a mess and not very clear. I'm trying to sort
non-sequential

It worked great! Thank you.
Powershell is so much fun when you know what you are doing. It looks like i
need more practice...

"Jacques Barathon [MS]" wrote:

> "Cornelius" <Cornelius@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
> news:1544EB07-3A08-47EE-BB53-0DF3E2C12074@microsoft.com...
> >I need to read the content of a file and sort the content by fixed width.
> > Example file: sample_data.txt
> > 23abdc1133cdde
> > 14zzwd0034kkhe
> > 65ppok7780hyyh
> >
> > Read in the content and sort text by fixed position
> > (startpos:1,len:2)(startpos:3,len:4)(startpos:6,len:4)
>
> I am lost with your question: if you want to sort the file by the first two
> characters then the next four characters and finally the last four
> characters, won't sorting the whole line by default produce the expected
> result?
>
> PS> get-content sample_data.txt | sort
>
> However, if you want to sort on non-sequential patterns of your text the
> following should work:-
>
> --- sample_data.txt ---
> 23abdc1133cdde
> 14zzwd0034kkhe
> 65ppok7780hyyh
> 12abdc1133cdde
> --- sample_data.txt ---
>
> PS> # sort on 3rd to 6th chars, then on 1st to 2nd chars:
> PS> get-content sample_data.txt | sort {$_[2..5]},{$_[0..1]}
> 12abdc1133cdde
> 23abdc1133cdde
> 65ppok7780hyyh
> 14zzwd0034kkhe
>
> Hope that helps,
> Jacques
>
>

You can also use ADO the read fixed length delimited files, by using a
schema.ini (can be generated in controlpanel)

I describe this method in this entry on my old blog :

http://mow001.blogspot.com/2006/07/w...delimited.html

Greetings /\/\o\/\/
http://thePowerShellGuy.com

"Cornelius" <Cornelius@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:CC9895DF-ED1B-4EAF-8421-CB78157DA9F7@microsoft.com...
> Sorry I know the post was a mess and not very clear. I'm trying to sort
> non-sequential
>
> It worked great! Thank you.
> Powershell is so much fun when you know what you are doing. It looks like
> i
> need more practice...
>
> "Jacques Barathon [MS]" wrote:
>
>> "Cornelius" <Cornelius@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
>> news:1544EB07-3A08-47EE-BB53-0DF3E2C12074@microsoft.com...
>> >I need to read the content of a file and sort the content by fixed
>> >width.
>> > Example file: sample_data.txt
>> > 23abdc1133cdde
>> > 14zzwd0034kkhe
>> > 65ppok7780hyyh
>> >
>> > Read in the content and sort text by fixed position
>> > (startpos:1,len:2)(startpos:3,len:4)(startpos:6,len:4)
>>
>> I am lost with your question: if you want to sort the file by the first
>> two
>> characters then the next four characters and finally the last four
>> characters, won't sorting the whole line by default produce the expected
>> result?
>>
>> PS> get-content sample_data.txt | sort
>>
>> However, if you want to sort on non-sequential patterns of your text the
>> following should work:-
>>
>> --- sample_data.txt ---
>> 23abdc1133cdde
>> 14zzwd0034kkhe
>> 65ppok7780hyyh
>> 12abdc1133cdde
>> --- sample_data.txt ---
>>
>> PS> # sort on 3rd to 6th chars, then on 1st to 2nd chars:
>> PS> get-content sample_data.txt | sort {$_[2..5]},{$_[0..1]}
>> 12abdc1133cdde
>> 23abdc1133cdde
>> 65ppok7780hyyh
>> 14zzwd0034kkhe
>>
>> Hope that helps,
>> Jacques
>>
>>

You can specify a scriptblock as an argument to the sort command that will
be used to calculate the value to sort on. For example:

PS (23) > $text.split("`n") | sort # default sort
14zzwd0034kkhe
23abdc1133cdde
65ppok7780hyyh
PS (24) > $text.split("`n") | sort {[int] ($_.substring(1,1) +
$_.substring(6,4)) } # numeric sort on 2nd char + middle num string
23abdc1133cdde
14zzwd0034kkhe
65ppok7780hyyh
PS (25) >

-bruce

--
Bruce Payette [MSFT]
Windows PowerShell Technical Lead
Microsoft Corporation
This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no rights.



"Cornelius" <Cornelius@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:1544EB07-3A08-47EE-BB53-0DF3E2C12074@microsoft.com...
>I need to read the content of a file and sort the content by fixed width.
> Example file: sample_data.txt
> 23abdc1133cdde
> 14zzwd0034kkhe
> 65ppok7780hyyh
>
> Read in the content and sort text by fixed position
> (startpos:1,len:2)(startpos:3,len:4)(startpos:6,len:4)
>
> I'm having problems sorting the text after i read the file. I think i need
> to use regex and sort the matches object.
>
> This is what i have so far:
>
> Get-Content c:\text_acct_level.txt | ForEach-Object { if ($_ -match
> [regex]"^.{2}(?<fld1>(.{9}))(?<fld2>(.{4}))(?<fld3>(.{20})).*"){$matches}}|sort-Object
> $matches[1],$matches[2],$matches[3]
>
> Its not working but at maybe it will help you understand where I'm getting
> lost.
>
> Thanks,
> Cornelius
>

Bruce its cool to see your reply, being that I'm on Chapter 5 of your book. I
guess I should have figured it out but, for some reason I just didn't think
about the get-content sending an array object. I'm learning so much so fast,
I have to use it daily to retain most of what I'm learning.

Thanks for writing a great book.

Sincerely,
Cornelius

"Bruce Payette [MSFT]" wrote:

> You can specify a scriptblock as an argument to the sort command that will
> be used to calculate the value to sort on. For example:
>
> PS (23) > $text.split("`n") | sort # default sort
> 14zzwd0034kkhe
> 23abdc1133cdde
> 65ppok7780hyyh
> PS (24) > $text.split("`n") | sort {[int] ($_.substring(1,1) +
> $_.substring(6,4)) } # numeric sort on 2nd char + middle num string
> 23abdc1133cdde
> 14zzwd0034kkhe
> 65ppok7780hyyh
> PS (25) >
>
> -bruce
>
> --
> Bruce Payette [MSFT]
> Windows PowerShell Technical Lead
> Microsoft Corporation
> This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no rights.
>
>
>
> "Cornelius" <Cornelius@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
> news:1544EB07-3A08-47EE-BB53-0DF3E2C12074@microsoft.com...
> >I need to read the content of a file and sort the content by fixed width.
> > Example file: sample_data.txt
> > 23abdc1133cdde
> > 14zzwd0034kkhe
> > 65ppok7780hyyh
> >
> > Read in the content and sort text by fixed position
> > (startpos:1,len:2)(startpos:3,len:4)(startpos:6,len:4)
> >
> > I'm having problems sorting the text after i read the file. I think i need
> > to use regex and sort the matches object.
> >
> > This is what i have so far:
> >
> > Get-Content c:\text_acct_level.txt | ForEach-Object { if ($_ -match
> > [regex]"^.{2}(?<fld1>(.{9}))(?<fld2>(.{4}))(?<fld3>(.{20})).*"){$matches}}|sort-Object
> > $matches[1],$matches[2],$matches[3]
> >
> > Its not working but at maybe it will help you understand where I'm getting
> > lost.
> >
> > Thanks,
> > Cornelius
> >
>
>
>