Find the smallest working sets in PowerShell
Documentation: Microsoft Learn
Write a pipeline, run it against the sample data, and check your result.
An example to inspect
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Get-Process | Sort-Object WS | Select-Object -First 3Target
Return the three processes with the smallest working-set memory, smallest first. Sort all processes before limiting the result.
Expected result
notepad, spoolsv, pwsh
Try the task
Show a worked solution
Reveal one approach
Try it in the lab
Write your pipeline below and run it against the fictional sample data, then check your result against the expected answer.
Follow the objects
Run the command to inspect each stage.
PowerShell skills
Process objects · Sorting · Selection · Top-N results
Build the answer in three decisions
Read the pipeline from left to right. Each stage receives objects from the stage before it.
Collect
Get-Process
Start with 5 fictional process objects. Keep them as objects so later stages can inspect their properties.
Shape
Sort-Object WS
Apply the condition or ordering required by the task. Sort the numeric WS property ascending, then select the first three objects.
Verify
Check order and returned names
The fixture should return notepad, spoolsv, pwsh. Order matters for this exercise.
Reason through the pipeline
The source stage returns 5 process objects. Then the pipeline applies Sort-Object WS, Select-Object -First 3 without converting the objects to display text. That keeps the Name property available for the checker and for any later pipeline stage.
Why common attempts fail
Do not select the first rows before sorting when the task asks for a highest, lowest, first, or reverse-ordered result. Use Select-Object after the important filtering or ordering work; selecting too early can discard properties needed by later stages.
What the checker accepts
The evaluator runs the supported subset against the same fictional fixture. It expects notepad, spoolsv, pwsh. The returned order is part of the answer. Equivalent supported syntax is accepted.
Verify another attempt
First run Get-Process by itself and inspect the fixture. Then add one stage at a time and compare how many objects remain. This isolates the stage that changes the result and makes the final pipeline easier to explain and debug.
