---
title: "Concepts: Filtering & Sorting Collections"
slug: "scripting-tutorials-collections-filtering-and-sorting"
tags: ["Enterprise Only"]
updated: 2024-08-26T14:49:44Z
published: 2024-08-26T14:49:44Z
canonical: "help.agilityblue.com/scripting-tutorials-collections-filtering-and-sorting"
---

> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://help.agilityblue.com/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Concepts: Filtering & Sorting Collections

## Introduction

In this article, we dive into the more intermediate concepts of filtering and sorting through a collection. This page aims to provide a variety of examples on how filters and sorting can be used instead of outlining any specific step-by-step guides. We encourage you to try out some of the examples with whatever collection commands you would like using the following templates as a guide:

For filtering, provide your filters as a string for the `Filter` input parameter

PowerShellPowerShell

```powershell
# Template:
# {your_collection_command} -Filter "{your_filter_string}"

# Examples:
$activeClientsCollection = Get-Clients -Filter "Active eq true"

$mattersIn2023Collection = Get-matters -Filter "year(CreatedOn) eq 2023"

$rushProjectsCollection = Get-Projects -Filter "Priority eq 'Rush'"
```

For sorting, provide your sorts as a string for the `OrderBy` input parameter

```powershell
# Template:
# {your_collection_command} -OrderBy "{your_sort_string}"

# Examples:
$recentFirstClientsCollection = Get-Clients -OrderBy "CreatedOn desc"

$mattersSortedByClientsCollection = Get-matters -OrderBy "ClientName, Name"

$projectsSortedByStatusCollection = Get-Projects -OrderBy "Status"
```

You may combine filtering and sorting for the same collection command

```powershell
$activeMattersWithRecentFirstCollection = Get-Matters -Filter "Active eq true" -OrderBy "CreatedOn desc"
```

Check out the commands and reference section of the documentation to help locate other collection commands. Remember, all collection commands start with the `Get` verb and will be plural.

## Filters Reference

Below are tables that represents the filtering expressions and how to apply them to a collection command.

The following table shows comparison operators:

| Operation | Operator | Examples |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Equals | eq | - Text: "Name eq 'Agility Blue'" - Number: "MaterId eq 1" - Boolean: "Active eq true" - Date: "CreatedOn eq 2023-12-01Z" |
| Not equals | ne | - Text: "Description ne 'Agility Blue'" - Number: "NumberOfTasks ne 0" - Boolean: "EnableNotifications ne true" - Date: "LastUpdatedOn ne 2023-12-01" |
| Greater than | gt | - Number: "UnitPrice gt 10" - Date: "Date gt 2023-01-01-06:00" |
| Greater than or equal to | ge | - Number: "TotalPrice ge 1000" - CreatedOn ge 2023-01-01-06:00 |
| Less than | lt | - Number: "UnitPrice lt 10" - Date: "Date lt 2023-01-01-06:00" |
| Less than or equal to | le | - Number: "TotalPrice le 1000" - CreatedOn le 2023-01-01-06:00 |

The following table shows functions that may be applied in a filter expression

| Operation | Function | Examples |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Contains | contains(*field*, *value*) | - Text: "contains(CF_10, 'agility blue')" |
| Not contains | indexof(*field*, *value*) eq -1 | - Text: "indexof(Name, 'processing') eq -1" |
| Starts with | startswith(*field*, *value*) | - Text: "startswith(Name, 'produce') |
| Ends with | endswith(*field*, *value*) | - Text: "endswith(Name, 'documents') |
| Length | length(*field*) *expr value* | - Text: "length(Name) lt 10" |
| Year | year(*field*) *expr value* | - Date: "year(CreatedOn) eq 2023" |
| Month | month(*field*) *expr value* | - Date: "month(CreatedOn) eq 1" |
| Day | day(*field*) *expr value* | - Date: "day(CreatedOn) eq 1" |
| Hour | hour(*field*) *expr value* | - Date: "hour(LastUpdatedOn) eq 15" |
| Minute | minute(*field*) *expr value* | - Date: "minute(LastUpdatedOn) eq 30" |
| Second | second(*field*) *expr value* | - Date: "second(LastUpdatedOn) eq 0" |

All of the above operations may be grouped using parenthesis and logical `and` or `or` concatenation. Examples:

| Logical group operator | Examples |
| --- | --- |
| and | - Text: "(Name eq 'Processing') and (contains(ProjectComputedTags, 'billable')) - Number: "(Quantity lt 10) and (TotalPrice gt 5000)" - Boolean: "(Active eq true) and (CF_22 ne null)" - Date: "(year(CreatedOn) eq 2023) and (month(CreatedOn) ge 4) and (month(CreatedOn) le 6)" |
| or | - Text: "contains(ProjectComputedTags, 'process data') or contains(ProjectComputedTags, 'produce data')" - Number: "(Quantity le 10) or (Quantity ge 100)" - Boolean "(CF_22 eq null) or (CF_22 eq false)" - Date: "(year(CreatedOn) eq 2022) or (year(CreatedOn) eq 2023)" |

## Sorting (Order By) Reference

Sorting follows the following format:

*field* (desc)[, ...*field* (desc)]

For example, to sort a field named "Name" in ascending order, you would simply use:

"Name"

To sort by the same field, but in descending order:

"Name desc"

You can sort by multiple fields by separating the expressions with a comma. For example:

"Reference, ClientReference"

Reverse sorting can be applied individually on any field:

"Reference desc, ClientReference desc"

### Sorting examples on a collection command

**Example:** Sort by the reference field on the clients collection command:

```powershell
Get-Clients -OrderBy "Reference"
```

**Example:** Sort matter names but keep clients together:

```powershell
Get-Matters -OrderBy "ClientName, Name"
```

**Example:** Sort billing entries by highest total price while keeping matters together:

```powershell
Get-BillingEntries -OrderBy "MatterName, TotalPrice desc"
```