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I have question about sorting files,and my question is different from other questions about sorting I have a folder including hundereds of files looks like this

anacovaux_1052_summary_betai.out
anacovaux_1052_summary_Pdelta.out
anacovaux_1052_summary_pij.out
anacovaux_1053_DIC.out
anacovaux_1053_summary_betai.out
anacovaux_1053_summary_beta_params.out
anacovaux_1048_DIC.out
anacovaux_1048_summary_betai.out
anacovaux_1043_summary_pi_xtx.out
anacovaux_1058_DIC.out

I wanted to know is there any way that I could sort them numerically? I mean get something like this: 

anacovaux_1043_summary_pi_xtx.out
anacovaux_1048_DIC.out
anacovaux_1048_summary_betai.out
anacovaux_1052_summary_betai.out
anacovaux_1052_summary_Pdelta.out
anacovaux_1052_summary_pij.out
anacovaux_1053_DIC.out
anacovaux_1053_summary_betai.out
anacovaux_1053_summary_beta_params.out
anacovaux_1058_DIC.out
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  • 2
    Does all the files have the same filename prefix and is the number always 4 digits? If yes, then ls should sort them already, as would echo * and printf '%s\n' *. Commented Aug 29, 2017 at 20:35
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    Please give a sample that doesn't sort already in the order you want with ls or GNU ls -v. For instance, do you want B_1.out to sort before A_2.out? You'd want A2 to sort before A10 I presume? Commented Aug 29, 2017 at 20:46
  • See also sort in Unix  with numeric sort. Commented Sep 28, 2017 at 20:24

2 Answers 2

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Using ls from GNU coreutils (default on most Linux systems):

$ ls -v -1

This will list the filenames in one single column (-1), sorted using the natural sort order for numbers within the filename ("version sorting", -v). This assumes that all filenames have the same prefix string up to the actual number (anacovaux_ for example).

For systems without GNU ls:

$ print '%s\n' * | sort -t '_' -k2,2n

This will sort the names on the number after the first _ character in the name. Again, it assumes that the filename prefix is constant (this solution totally ignores the prefix up to the first _).

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  • Yes, @Kusalananda thank you so much, gives the same output that I want. Commented Aug 29, 2017 at 23:15
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If you want to list files in a folder in custom sort order:

ls -1 yourfolder | sort -t'_' -k2,2n
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    What the OP wrote is actually irrelevant in this case... Again, -1 is not needed here because ls by default prints one entry per line with a few exceptions ("output is a terminal" being one of them). Does any of the mods know why has my previous comment vanished ? Commented Aug 29, 2017 at 20:52
  • @don_crissti, I don't see a critical problem here with using -1 option to adjust the output (print only filenames) Commented Aug 29, 2017 at 21:00
  • thank you.@RomanPerekhrest it does the job partially for me. I have some files like anacovaux_105_DIC.out. So when I use your code it comes after anacovaux_1048_summary_betai.out....Is there any solution for that? Indeed my file are from 1-2181. I just presented a few of them as an example Commented Aug 29, 2017 at 21:46
  • @Anna1364, just add n (natural sorting) flag to sort command. I couldn't give you this answer fast (6 ours ago) cause we are in different time zones Commented Aug 30, 2017 at 4:44

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