Select row with latest timestemp based on 3 columns using Powershell - powershell

Question

Sample input:
Hostnames
Status
Time
Host1
Retired
1/31/2023 9:27:06 PM
Host2
Active
2/1/2023 11:45:48 AM
Host1
Active
2/10/2023 4:59:27 AM
Host1
Active
2/13/2023 1:24:50 PM
Host2
Retired
2/10/2023 1:17:29 PM
Now, from above table, I would like to get rows of each hostname with latest timestemp.
In above example, it should return below rows as output:
Hostnames
Status
Time
Host1
Active
2/13/2023 1:24:50 PM
Host2
Retired
2/10/2023 1:17:29 PM
Any suggestions on how this can be achieved?

Answer 1

For testing I imported the data from CSV and then added a column with DateTime so I could sort. See following :
$data = #'
"Hostnames","Status","Time"
"Host1","Retired","1/31/2023 9:27:06 PM"
"Host2","Active","2/1/2023 11:45:48 AM"
"Host1","Active","2/10/2023 4:59:27 AM"
"Host1","Active","2/13/2023 1:24:50 PM"
"Host2","Retired","2/10/2023 1:17:29 PM"
'#
$table = $data | ConvertFrom-Csv
foreach($row in $table)
{
$row | Add-Member -NotePropertyName DateTime -NotePropertyValue ([DateTime]$row.Time)
}
$table = $table | Sort-Object -Property DateTime -Descending
$groups = $table | Group-Object -Property HostNames
$results = $groups | foreach { $_.Group[0] }
$results

Answer 2

Assuming you have that data imported in a variable $inputData, the easiest way is to group that on property Hostnames first and then sort each group on the Time value converted to real DateTime object.
Something like this
$newData = $inputData | Group-Object Hostnames | ForEach-Object {
$_.Group | Sort-Object {[datetime]$_.Time} | Select-Object -Last 1
}
# display on screen
$newData | Format-Table -AutoSize
# write to csv file
$newData | Export-Csv -Path 'X:\Somewhere\LatestStatus.csv' -NoTypeInformation
Output when displayed on screen:
Hostnames Status Time
--------- ------ ----
Host1 Active 2/13/2023 1:24:50 PM
Host2 Retired 2/10/2023 1:17:29 PM