Pipe any array to Sort-Object (alias: sort) to sort it:

$a = 'k', 'a', 'z'
$a | sort

Output:

a
k
z

You can also sort inline without a variable:

'k', 'a', 'z' | sort

Numbers

PowerShell infers the correct numeric sort automatically:

$n = 10, 3, 25, 1
$n | sort

1
3
10
25

Without Sort-Object, a lexicographic sort would put 10 before 3. Piping numbers through sort avoids that.

Descending Order

Pass -Descending to reverse the order:

'k', 'a', 'z' | sort -Descending

z
k
a

Sort and Store the Result

Sort-Object doesn’t modify the original array — it outputs a new sorted sequence. Capture it if you need it later:

$sorted = $a | sort

Sort Object Properties

When your array contains objects, pass the property name to sort on:

Get-Process | Sort-Object CPU -Descending | Select-Object -First 10 Name, CPU

Multiple sort keys are listed in priority order:

Get-ChildItem | Sort-Object Extension, Name

Case-Sensitive String Sort

String sorting is case-insensitive by default. Add -CaseSensitive when case matters:

'b', 'A', 'a', 'B' | Sort-Object -CaseSensitive

A
B
a
b

Unique Values

-Unique removes duplicates after sorting:

3, 1, 2, 1, 3 | Sort-Object -Unique

1
2
3