List of Lists Sort With String Dates?

You should create your own custom comparer.

class Program
{
    static void Main(string[] args)
    {
        List<string> list = new List<string>
                                {
                                    "Value1, 2010-06-28 10:30:00.000",
                                    "Value2, 2010-06-27 10:30:00.000",
                                    "Value3, 2010-06-26 10:30:00.000"
                                };

        list.Sort(new MyComparer());
    }
}

internal class MyComparer : IComparer<string>
{
    public int Compare(string x, string y)
    {
        var xItems = x.Split(new []{','});
        var yItems = y.Split(new []{','});
        var xDateTime = DateTime.Parse(xItems[1]);
        var yDateTime = DateTime.Parse(yItems[1]);
        return xDateTime.CompareTo(yDateTime);
    }
}

You first parse the string into a DateTime. Assuming the second columns is always a well-formed date/time string. The code below uses Linq to create a separate sorted list:

sortedList = yourList.OrderBy( item => DateTime.Parse( item[1] ) ).ToList();

If you need to sort in place, you can do so using:

List.Sort((a,b)=>return DateTime.Parse(b[1]).CompareTo(DateTime.Parse(a[1]) );

Depending on how your dates are repsented, you may want to consider using DateTime.ParseExact().

You need to convert a[1] to date time before comparing it.

List.Sort((a, b) => -1 * DateTime.Parse(a[1]).CompareTo(DateTime.Parse(b[1])))

EDIT:

If your LINQ query that fills the list is filling it as a list of strings, then you need to get a substring of the item that represents the date portion of the string. DateTime.Parse won't just magically pick out the part of the string that has a date value in it.

If this is the case and you're considering using string.Split, be sure you know the format your date will be coming, since some formats allow commas.

Maybe something like

List<string> list = new List<string>
{
"Value1, 2010-06-28 10:30:00.000",
"Value2, 2010-06-27 10:30:00.000",
"Value3, 2010-06-26 10:30:00.000"
};

list.Sort((a, b) =>
    {
        string[] aSplit = a.Split(',');
        string[] bSplit = b.Split(',');

        if (aSplit.Count() < 2 && bSplit.Count() < 2) 
            return a.CompareTo(b);

        DateTime date1, date2;

        if (!DateTime.TryParse(aSplit[1].Trim(), out date1) || 
            !DateTime.TryParse(bSplit[1].Trim(), out date2))
            return a.CompareTo(b);

        return date2.CompareTo(date1);
    });

If your String contains anything other then a date, then I highly recommend splitting your string into JUST the date part, then TryParse and compare that value. Not the whole string!

yourStringList.Sort(
    (x, y) => {
        DateTime ix;
        DateTime iy;
        DateTime.TryParse(x.Split('(')[2].Split(')')[0], out ix);
        DateTime.TryParse(y.Split('(')[2].Split(')')[0], out iy);
        return ix.CompareTo(iy);
    }
);

In this example, im splitting my string to exactly the part where the date lies, and using tryparse on that. Only after that is parsed correctly can your comparing be done properly.